You have been reading about the multimedia-capable BlackBerry Pearl (a.k.a. 8100) here for several weeks- if not months.

Well, just after Midnight, RIM made the official announcement. For real.

"The BlackBerry Pearl elegantly combines an incredibly small, stylish and full-featured smartphone with the gold standard in wireless email and the result is something special. Through the integration of hardware, software and service, we are able to deliver a mobile experience that stands apart in the industry. We are extremely excited to be launching this breakthrough handset and we look forward to rolling it out around the world with our carrier partners," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO, Research In Motion.

The rest of the press release cites the 4.2" x 1.97" x .57" dimensions of the device, its 3.1 ounce weight, aquad-band GSM/GPRS and EDGE-enabled mobile application powerhouse delivering the fast performance of the latest generation BlackBerry handset platform.

Oh, and yes, the camera. Did someone say camera?

Yes, 1.3 megapixel with 5x digital zoom. Not optical zoom, but it is a start.

Oh yes, and media player. You were still wondering?

The media player is compatible with MP3 and ACC music files and MPEG4 and H.263 video files.

Say what? Say when?

T-Mobile will have the device beginning September 12. Just as we have been reporting.

Rogers Wireless will have the device in October. Other carriers in Europe will have the Pearl in the same time frame. I'm guessing that means Vodafone. Expect it by the end of the year in Asia-Pacific and Latin America.