Research In Motion has enlisted the services of will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas to promote its latest Blackberry smartphone, the Curve 8520.

At the company’s Sydney office last week, RIM unveiled the new Blackberry Curve 8520 to the media with a little help from the celebrity Blackberry fan.

Whilst on tour with the Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am made an appearance at the event to talk about his love of technology and for his Blackberry.

“I’ve been using Blackberry for a while now, I’m a real addict,” he said. “I really love staying in contact with my friends, family and fans.”

Will.i.am noted that he looks at his Blackberry as a creative tool that he uses for various applications in his day-to-day life.

“I look at my blackberry as a window to my creative life,” he said.

Also on hand to talk about the new handset was the RIM managing director, Australia and New Zealand, Adele Beachley.

“The new Curve 8520 is an excellent smartphone for the first time user and is the first Blackberry handset to come with touch-sensitive trackpad navigation,” she said.

The new touch-sensitive trackpad is set to make scrolling and selection easier and combined with dedicated media keys, the handset is promised to be one of the simplest units to control.

Some of the other key features of the new Blackberry Curve 8520 include a full-QWERTY keyboard, 256MB flash memory, voice activated dialling, Bluetooth 2.0, 2MP camera, Blackberry Internet Service, built-in Wi-Fi and expandable memory via SD/SDHC memory card.

The Blackberry Curve 8520 will be available from Optus and Vodafone in Australia and Vodafone in New Zealand.