BlackBerry enthusiasts who favour the device’s traditional physical keyboard will have to wait to get one on Research in Motion’s new smartphone models.

RIM’s first set of phones running the BlackBerry 10 operating system will have touch-screen keyboards — but not physical ones.

At least not yet.

“The BlackBerry keyboard is known for the best mobile typing experience in the world. With BlackBerry 10, we are delivering a BlackBerry keyboard experience for users in all of our products,” RIM spokesman Nick Manning wrote in an email to the Star. “As we have stated previously, BlackBerry 10 will feature devices with physical keyboards in addition to touch devices.”

RIM expects to introduce the new phones by the end of the year but no specific date has been announced.

With files from Josh Rubin, Star staff

Read more about: