blackberry removes thumbwheel

wow?!  the navigation item that made them famous for the navigation is not visible in their latest incarnation.  now granted it wasn't in the perl as well, but that was a smaller form-factor i just assumed it was because they went "phone-first" in that model.

gary krakow of msnbc reviews the latest blackberry 8800 and informs us of the change:

For all you “CrackBerry” addicts I must warn you at the outset that the 8800 is different from any other . It’s the first one without a thumbwheel. The experts at RIM, seeing the success of the Pearl and its little trackball, decided that their new model didn’t need an ancient-style navigation device.

personally i think it is going to be a bad move for blackberry.  i remember sitting in a room full of microsoft skeptics one time talking about windows mobile and one of the complaints was that the devices lacked easy one-handed navigation...and they pointed to the thumbwheel.  the blackjack has it and i like it.  it does make one-handed operation easier to use quickly.

hmm...i'm just a little curious what the feedback will be.

ps -- any irony in the default home wallpaper they are using on the blackberry 8800?