The Bluepoint Oyster Bar in downtown Toronto hosted the launch of Research in Motion's latest toy, the Pearl, in Canada on the Rogers Wireless network. Journalists and industry smartypants assembled to listen to Rogers Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer John Boynton extol the virtues of the BlackBerry-lite device, as well as several other new handsets being sold through Rogers this fall.

The Pearl, a smallish candybar-shaped smartphone, has the same sort of sophistication found in other RIM devices, including the company's acclaimed email functionality and a full QWERTY keyboard (as well as a souped-up version of SureType that apparently enhances the accuracy of predictive text).

But email excellence is to be expected of a RIM device. What may not be expected—at least not by the public at large—is the Pearl's surprisingly robust suite of consumer-oriented features. It sports a 1.3 megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom, a built-in media player for video and music playback, and BlackBerry Maps, a new application from RIM that provides step-by-step directions between locations and integrates with other BlackBerry programs.

While the Pearl was obviously the event's main draw, a comment Mr. Boynton made about another device ended up being the buzz of the evening. Upon introducing a new Sony-Ericsson handset, the K790—which, with its 3.2 megapixel image sensor, auto focus capabilities, image stabilization, and point-and-shoot form factor is as much a camera as it is a phone—Mr. Boynton matter-of-factly stated that this phone would mark the beginning of "the erosion of the digital camera."

A bold statement, and one that he didn't immediately expand upon. Someone in the audience eventually asked him what he meant by it. His response touched on the continued convergence of mobile gadgets, and how it only makes sense for casual photographers who haven't a need for advanced camera functionality to eliminate their digital camera from their lives and simply use a phone/camera combo.

Are point-and-shoot digital cameras truly at serious risk of being replaced by phones with still imaging functionality? Who knows? These days, predicting future technology trends is a gamble at best, a company-ruining disaster at worst. Only time will tell which category this prophecy falls into. But it does make for interesting techno-gossip.

Two other handsets were showcased at the event as well: the Samsung D807 and the Nokia E62.

The D807 is a standard multi-purpose consumer phone with a sleek black and silver design and a large bright screen. It has a 1.3 megapixel camera with video capability, a built-in MP3 player, features Bluetooth wireless technology, and ships with a 512MB MicroSD card in the box to let users start taking advantage of its multimedia features right away.

By contrast, the E62 is a more complicated device. It offers a full spectrum of smartphone features, including email, document viewing and editing capabilities, and instant messaging. It's closest in class to a BlackBerry or Moto Q, though it lacks the elegance of the former's email functionality and the cutting edge form factor of the latter.

Rogers sells the Pearl and the E62 for $249, and the D807 for $199, all assuming three year contracts. Pricing for the K790, which will be released in November, wasn't made available at the event.