AT&T crippling GPS in BlackBerry 8820?
Ok. So, Doug from BlackBerry Cool is saying an "AT&T insider" has informed them that the upcoming BlackBerry 8820 on AT&T will basically be tied to TeleNav in regards to GPS functionality. That means you are forced to pay $9.99/month if you wish to utilize the built-in GPS. Kind of sucks, right? It is pretty hard to believe. But is it true? There has been no official confirmation whatsoever, but we think this might actually be possible. The reasoning BBCool has given, is that AT&T saw the 8820 (WiFi + GPS) at a subsidized, low price point, a threat to the iPhone. They are so totally different that I’m not sure anyone could think that. We have a strictly enterprise product, and a straight consumer product here people. The price point alone is enough to sway people either way. GPS, at the end of the day, shouldn’t make that big of a difference. The selling point for the 8820 is WiFi, not GPS. You always have the regular BlackBerry 8800 for that. As ludicrous as it sounds, this might be the case though. Prove us wrong. Then our mock conversation with AT&T and RIM below won’t look so stupid…
AT&T: Hi. Can I speak to Jim Balsillie please?
RIM operator: Who’s calling?
AT&T: Apple’s wireless carrier
RIM: You mean, AT&T?
AT&T: Is that what we’re calling ourselves these days? Well, I suppose so, yeah, sure, AT&T.
RIM: Please hold
AT&T: Cool beans.
Jim Balsilie: Hello?
AT&T: I need to talk you about the upcoming BlackBerry 8820. You know, the one we keep missing the launch date on?
Jim Balsilie: Shoot.
AT&T: Well, Steve Jobs was just in India, and he went on a straight 14-day juice fast with intense medication and when he got back, he told us that he wanted us to make the 8820 "less appealing because it would take away from the iPhone"
Jim Balsilie: You know I told you to never mention that phone to me again. Don’t get me started on the way you guys forever changed the telecom industry…
AT&T: Well, we need to tie in the GPS functionality to only TeleNav. No more of this BlackBerry Maps horseshit.
Jim Balsillie: Am I getting a cut off of TeleNav?
AT&T: Nah, we’re giving your percentage to Apple
Jim Balsillie: Well, then, no.
AT&T: You’re not getting it Jim. We either do this, or we don’t carry BlackBerry devices anymore and drop the BlackBerry 8820.
Jim Balsillie: You can’t do that. You make more money per BlackBerry sale than the Devil phone.
AT&T: You’re probably right, but still. Our Commander in Chief has requested it.
Jim Balsillie: Well, then, er, I’m not selling YOU anymore BlackBerry devices!
AT&T: Right, but I just said that Jim.
Jim Balsillie: Whatevs, do what you want. We’ve got this amazing new BlackBerry coming out that works on Verizon. Isn’t that incredible? It will change the world I…
AT&T: Please hang up the phone or try again. If you’ve reached this message in error, please check the number and try again…
I can seriously imagine the conversation did go something like that, but probably with more yelling and cussing from Balsille.
Granting, this rumour is (as yet) unverified, but it does sound very AT&T-esque because they’ve got that kind of reputation from doing things like this before.
Here’s a dumb question: why doesn’t RIM allow consumers to buy the phones directly from them? It really sounds as if RIM needs to take a page from Dell. Selling computers directly to the consumer has worked for Dell, so why would selling phones not work? Or is this an FCC thing where all mobile phones must be sold through a carrier?
For my point of view, I want the 8820. And when I say that, I mean I could have a check overnighted to RIM by tomorrow morning. I’m not going to buy a phone from AT&T that tells me what I can and can’t do with it. I am the kind of consumer companies hate: you tell me I can’t do something and I’ll either find a way to do it or go elsewhere. (That’s how Cingular lost me to T-Mobile. Cingular told me I couldn’t, and T-Mobile told me I could.)
*shrug*
Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Permalink | Reply
Good lawdy NO! Don’t do it AT&T NO! Btw, absolutely hilarious convo BG!
Permalink | Reply
Right. Buying devices directly from RIM always seemed to make sense in my mind. But then, BlackBerrys require a data plan and RIM basically treats the carrier as the customer, instead of us being the customer.
Permalink | Reply
You’re right BG, that is a stupid conversation. I don’t think Jim Balsillie would’ve gone along with that unless he was getting a “little” something in return.
Jim may be a nice guy (or a tyrant, I don’t know him.) but he’s not a pushover like in your portrayal.
Permalink | Reply
I feel sorry for those that are not researching this like many of us and will buy the product assuming it does what the built in hardware suggests untill it’s too late and they read the fine print in the manual.
I am a cingular customer, I have never liked AT&T, and now that they are the new AT&T I am moving my buisness elsewhere in about a month when my contract is up.
I belive this is a big integrity issue. Who wants a carrier that you feel like after you sign up with them it seems like you’ve been taken for a ride. AT&T is the creapy guy in the Van offering free candy.. in the end you get raped and feel horrible.
Permalink | Reply
It is very funny, but I can see it playing out like that. The carriers need to release the phones as designed and they will gain customers, cripple them and you lose them.
Somehow if Blackberry’s were gone from AT&T I bet Verizon & Sprint would see a HUGE jump in subscribers. The Devil Phone, you got that right.
Permalink | Reply
That does make sense, Boy Genius, what with the data plan being required. So then RIM treats the carrier as the customer who buys and pushes the device, but what about treating me as the consumer who actually uses the device? Even while the vast majority of consumers would go through a wireless carrier, it seems like there would be another route into RIM for “power” users that want to purchase it directly. It seems to me (in my small feeble layman’s brain) that selling unlocked, unlimited, unadulterated phones would also bring it more money for RIM?
Of course, can you imagine if RIM were a little like Dell and we could click “Customize This” on the 8820 and get it in different colours, processors, memory, and package deals then click on “Submit Order” only to have the phone of our dreams arrive the next day? In a perfect world …
Permalink | Reply
This appears to be odd considering the rumors that AT&T has agreed to pick up the HTC Kaiser (AKA 8925), a WM6 phone with Wifi and GPS. With no hints that the Kaiser will be crippled.
I’m calling shenanigans on this whole line of unsubstaniated rumors.
Permalink | Reply
Hey Apple is selling the iPhone, Why can RIM sell the blackberry?
Permalink | Reply
Well .. It looks like it is time for me to switch the company over to Verizon. I am not going to pay any additional fees due to the useless iPhone.
The phone has this support built in and last i checked our taxes paid for those satellites. Further more we pay for unlimited data usage .. this is per postures. We would never nor are we looking to get into iPhones. They are for children, not cooperations.
Permalink | Reply
Didn’t sprint sue Gmaps for doing free GPS instead of Sprints paid service? Seems like carriers will go this route. Just like sprint sparked the text message increase, we will probably see a shutout of free services forced to subscribe to some revenue increasing package.
Permalink | Reply
Nokia sells directly to the public.
Permalink | Reply
At&t blows anyway, T-Mobile respects it customers and they give us what we want and need.
Permalink | Reply
RIM selling to the general consumer makes sense if the general consumer is willing to pay an unsubsidized price for a handset. Sure, there are many people that would do it, but doing so without any carrier sales would alienate most of the consumers. It would have to be done as a compliment to carrier sales… Not an alternative.
Furthermore, I can see how a BB could be a threat to the iPhone. Put a Curve on the market with wifi, gps, and a better web browser and I say you have something. However, a bb 8820 customer and an iPhone customer have far less in common.
I’m going to stay skeptical about this rumor. If it were about verizon and bluetooth I may be inclined to believe, but for now I’ll just keep watching.
Permalink | Reply
Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Verizon did something similar with their new Blackberry. They disabled the included BB Maps and you have to use their paid VZ Navigator service. Sprint has done the same thing with some of their tie ins. AT&T’s new Tilt (aka Kaiser) has had screen prints of it’s final ROM published on MoDaCo, and the home screen also shows the GPS tied to TeleNav. You could always use a bluetooth GPS and your own maps, but that defeats the purpose of built in GPS.
Bottom line is that GPS is another thing they can charge for, & as long as that is the case, they will try to lock devices to their paid services. Someone will have to buck the trend to try to get the others to open it up. Hopefully TMobile will do that when they release their Kaiser version and other GPS phones.
Permalink | Reply
rumors and more rumors.
Permalink | Reply
Well where is this 8820 we keep speaking of…!! Lets get it first then figure that mumbo jumbo later!
Permalink | Reply
Maybe this is a silly question, but is there a consumer comments email or something where we can let AT&T know we’re actually lining up to buy a good GPS enabled bb but not interested in the iPhone?
It doesn’t always work, but the consumer voice does have a place when they are listening.
Permalink | Reply
Maybe I’m confused…
Isn’t this already the case with the 8800?
If so wouldn’t the 8820 be the same??
Can you use another GPS service with the 8800 other than TeleNav?
Permalink | Reply
this is aatth hiding th bb maps ixon
if you hack the phones os with th ehelp of a comouter an modify the blackberry.alx file you can unlock other carriers themes. whaick have the bbmaps icon unhidden and he ablity to use the onboard gps. on th 8800’s OS if you unlock all the leames an load the att theme youll notice the blackberry maps is hidden on that version as well. so my sugestion is goto pinstack and read the tutorial on how to unlock themes
Permalink | Reply
Maybe RIM needs to show ALL of the carriers it has some balls and won’t play the cripple the device game anymore. After all crackberrrys are still quite hot and the goverment types won’t change so, maybe the carriers would crack after all.
Permalink | Reply
ok the carriers need to realize verizons and att’s strategys ar not the acts to follow
Permalink | Reply
I don’t see why this conversation would happen but put in more F**K YOU’s and it’ll be spot on. I really think at&t would do that since they want to sell more devil phones. But at least I talked a woman out of buying one, made the sales guy hella pissed cause he didn’t get his precious commission. BB’s are way better anyways.
Permalink | Reply
Its odd that AT&T would want to sell more devil phones since they pay the devil himself a piece of the action for each contract signed (in blood no doubt). Besides the devil phone is not a real business phone in the likes of crackberry’s.
Permalink | Reply
Below are estimates..
$600.00 MSRP 8820
-$300.00 for signing over your soul for 2 years.
great I just saved $300.00 !!!!!
hmm I really would like to use that GPS..
that Wi-Fi would be cool too…
but i can’t without paying to route it threw servers that are not even required.. hmm this sucks…
whats that going to cost me over these 2 years..
$9.99 x 24 months.. = $239.76 holy crap i’m not saving that much..
I have to buy a data plan too or the Wi-Fi is just added weight.. probbly run me $50 or more a month for one that is even reasonable..
that’ll be $1,200 over two years.. I already have my data going over my internet connection why should I go threw there servers too..
ouch thats roughly $1,439.76 to use that stuff just for the two year contract…. I just shafted myself..
btw.. whats with the magic number of $9.99 a month on the GPS.. also 666 if you flip it.. I knew they were doing the devils work!
Permalink | Reply