The device Obama intends to use might not even be a BlackBerry, and it might not be that close in size or weight to the small, sleek device made by Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion Ltd.

Even though Gibbs repeatedly called it a BlackBerry, four security analysts interviewed today said the handheld is probably something else. They based their assessments primarily on the fact that the device Obama pulled from his pocket looked too large to be a BlackBerry. Moreover, its silver skin looked like that of the Sectera Edge, which is already being used by thousands of federal government workers.