I'll ask the same thing I asked when RIM offered up a White BlackBerry Pearl: Is this necessary? Don't get me wrong, I am all for choice. The more options we have to select from, the better. Even though the Pearl is the fashionable BlackBerry, I have to wonder what IT department is really going to purchase 100 red ones for its employees.First off, it's not really red. It's more crimson. It would definitely feel at home on the University of Alabama's campus (Roll tide!). Whatever color it is, there are now four Pearls to choose from: black, charcoal grey, white and red. Where the original grey Pearl was elegant, sophisticated and exuded class, the red one comes off like a bad Buck Roger's-themed spaceship. It pairs the wrong red with the silvery sides. And the red "end" key clashes horribly with the crimson coloring of the button.

We all know that corner-office occupiers like to have the latest and greatest gadgetry with which to impress their fellow C-level colleagues. Heaven forbid they take a phone call at (insert appropriate industry trade show here) and not have some superlative display of technology in hand. Their stature would otherwise go right out the window.

Several years ago, when BlackBerry's were first coming into vogue, I am sure everyone was very impressed to see the then-calculator-sized blocks of addictive-habit-forming technology pressed to executives' ears. C-levelers can't have that now. Image is everything. Good thing they can choose to whip out a red BlackBerry Pearl. That'll get people's attention. But will it be the right kind of attention?

Attention or not, I just don't see the suit-wearing set adopting red phones in the near future. I am sure, however, that RIM has done its homework and has targeted the red Pearl for a very specific niche of business types. I'll let you know if and when I figure out who that is.

(Addendum, AT&T has also released a crimson-colored Treo 680. While Palm at least names the color appropriately, the same tongue-in-cheek questions and chides apply to it.)