BlackBerry Bold / BlackBerry Thunder release information
First things first… how did you like our BlackBerry Bold review? If that just made you crave the device more, you might not be too pleased with the latest info we got. We’ve been told that the Bold might have been pushed back yet again. What’s the whispered launch month now? September for a lot of carriers. That’s not to say it couldn’t launch sooner on a couple carriers, but that’s what we were told. It looks like there are still some problems with the radio code that have to do with network roaming, searching, etc. The Bold software has not even gone GM3 yet, and with weekly builds still coming out, there’s nothing to be shipped at this point in time. The hardware side is done, but as usual, these units are waiting for the final flash to start FedExing. Now, what about the BlackBerry Thunder? We’ve held on to this information for a bit, but now that we’ve confirmed it with 2 independent sources, we’re ready to run with it. Here are the most confirmed Thunder dates: a huge marketing push in the U.S. starting in September, and device release in mid-October on Verizon. We said November because we were betting on a couple week delay which, knowing RIM, certainly wouldn’t be out of the question. But, we’re told RIM is fully active in doing everything they can to get the Thunder launch-ready, even putting it above the Bold in terms of prioritizing.
Yesterday, during the RIM Annual Shareholders meeting nothing was mentioned in regards to the 9500. During the Q&A a shareholder even hinted at “competing” with the iphone (namely the Thunder) and how RIM plans to secure the consumer market share. Naturally, RIM footed around the direct answer and never gave up any info. They did spend a considerable amount of time discussing the Bold, but when asked “when” no concrete date was given, only a “by the end of summer” reply.
One a side note, recently Verizon and RIM teamed up with distributor Brightstar to increase Blackberry inventory to indirect sales agents in the US. This could be groundwork in anticipation of high unit demand coming soon…..Thunder!
Just a thought.
I can’t wait for the Thunder. If it’s on Verizon that means “hopefully” Telus and Bell won’t be far behind. It would be nice to see us poor CDMA Schmucks getting a new model before the GSM World.
I love all the undercover giz people that keep coming here to start stuff.
@thetruth
Its called Rim had a release date they wanted (they didn’t announce it but they had a rought idea) and now there pushing it back. Therefore its considered delayed. Also iof you say summertime and it comes out in the fall, that’s considered delayed.
@Richard
Your whole post makes no sense. All I can tell is you thought it would be funny to hate on BGR. The hype comes from people who want to know more about the phone. All this site does is gives us more info that we don’t know. What’s so wrong about that?
What IS it with you people asking stupid questions like “when is the Bold coming to Sprint” or “when is TMO getting the Thunder”? Do you people actually READ anything (and get a BASIC grasp on cellular technology) before posting? Come on. Bold does not have the radio in it to work on Sprint or Verizon or Bell or Alltel or Telus or whatever CDMA provider is out there. WHEN AND IF it comes to North America it can ONLY be from the likes of Rogers and ATT and TMO (not counting smaller GSM carriers). And what part of “exclusive” do you people not get about the Thunder and Verizon??? That means NO Sprint, NO Telus, No Bell, and (duh) no ATT/TMO/Rogers with their GSM networks.
Why couldn’t the Thunder be sold by a Canadian carrier? Verizon doesn’t operate in Canada, and Vodafone doesn’t have any affiliates there either, so I’d think exclusivity would be irrelevant.
DavidB-
Outstanding! Finally someone says it. Thanks for the much needed post. The ignorance some people possess when blogging is mind-blowing.
I’m usually the holier than thou one whining about personal attacks. But if you can’t beat ‘em…
@ thetruth
cracks my shit up when people talk about filing law suits. You don’t have the slightest idea what’s required for a libel suit do you, e.g., the prima facie elements of such a claim? You’re obviously not a lawyer. If you are, you should turn in your bar card.
@ Richard
Are you a retard? Not a single tv ad or on the internet you say? As for the internet, ATT and Blackberry sites both have ads. But the point isn’t so much advertising, it’s this splashy announcement in the spring, whetting all our appetites, then NOTHING. Apple did it right. Make an announcement WITH a release dete in the near future, and execution.
@ bob
Are you on Apple’s payroll? Galv once wrote, “bob = troll.” Is this a religion for you? We get it, you love iPhone; give it a rest, you’re not even interesting. I waited 3 hours for my iPhone. Wow, what a great device. LOVED it. But the 3G wasn’t really much faster than EDGE on my Curve.
iPhone can fly me to the moon, metaphorically speaking, but not to the grocery store around the corner. I immediately missed cut and paste. Less immediately, but soon enough I missed MMS. while on the internet, after a few minutes the page would crash and default to the device home screen; happened again and again. MADE ME CRAZY. Probably do-able but I couldn’t figure out a way to highlight email addresses from an email and immediately save them to contacts. There were more bugs, but this post is long enough already.
Bottom line – awesome device but not nuts and bolts practical.
The delays are a killer… I’m so tempted to go with iPhone since it seems so unclear when the Bold will actually be in a store near me.
BG, love the graphic! hahaha =D
Now BB’s don’t seem that uptight anymore.
September? That is so far away. What the fuck…
If you ask me, which you didn’t, I think we are all better off waiting until RIM is confident with the end results of their two highly anticipated products. RIM really is not to blame for the “delays”. They have never released a release date to begin with for either of these devices. Be patient people, haven’t you ever heard…”better things come to those who wait”. Also, if the post about RIM’s meeting is true, they are really expecting BIG things for the Thunder. “RIM plans to secure the consumer market share.” This must be an amazing device (Thunder) to say such a statement.
Bring on the Thunder (…could use a little rain her too)!
Here is my question. In my opinion, one thing no one seems to talk about that apple did with iphone 3g which is just fantastic is allow current iphone customers to upgrade at the reduced price even if their contract is not over. I really hope RIM pulls this off with the thunder so I can upgrade from my 8830 to the thunder right when it comes out. Otherwise I’m still stuck waiting around 10 months before I can get a new phone. If apple is intending to always let new iphones go for the lower price with renewing contract, that might seriously push me to them even though i prefer blackberry. Im sick of having to wait for the full contract to get another phone at the reduced price.
Hey BG, how about some more software, multi-media and browser info on the Thunder? Sounds like you have some good connections. If you keep feeding us, maybe we can all survive the wait!
It’s pretty ridiculous that RIM is taking this much time releasing the Bold. I can’t count how many customer’s come into my store asking for it & many getting fed up and going with the iPhone 3G. People bash Apple but they keep their word & release their product. They promised the iPhone 3G July 11th and it was released July 11th. RIM never gave an estimated date but potentially lost a lot of thunder (no pun intended) on the release.
@ Pholey
Spoken like a rational, calm person, “better things come to those who wait.” Good one. You should start a career writing fortune cookies.
The time lag between announcement and availability is unacceptable and no doubt horrible for business. The iPhone 3G is a very, very sexy and intriguing device. I know. I had one. I had tears in my eyes when I returned it. But it just wasn’t practical for me. RIM will have lost a LOT of business by this incompetence. I don’t know whose fault it is, FCC, RIM, ATT. I only know this, as I’ve said ad nauseum, Jobs announced the iPhone 3G, showed it off, and in the same breath told us exactly when it would be available and for exactly how much. And there was no deviation from that information.
Now, the simple question is, why does Apple have their shit so tightly together and RIM doesn’t? Funny thing, RIM announced first. Since then Apple announced, delivered, and is now smoking cigs, and we still don’t have anymore info from RIM on the Bold.
@ BG
I wish you’d do a formal interview with RIM and pose these questions to them. I wish you’d contact RIM and request an interview. If they blow you off, report it.
@ BG part II
I know you’re not my personal email buddy, I wish! But I really wish you’d find out if RIM has any plans to answer Mobileme and provide push services for contacts and calendar events.
Remember RIM is a CANADIAN COMPANY… China wants our wheat, minerals, oil and our blackberries… not to mention our positive political and business relations around the world… this means something….
Conrad:
I would argue that this has little if anything to do with how tightly RIM is run. . .I don’t think they would be in the position they are currently in if they didn’t have a relatively well-lubed organization. On the contrary, I think the Bold “announcement” was more of a “please don’t buy the iPhone 3G, the Instinct, etc, and instead wait on us” plea. They must’ve known that the Bold was still some distance away, but they wanted to give their customers something to which to look forward, and maybe stoke some press interest. On both counts, they succeeded in part (although they obviously exposed themselves to some criticism as well).
RIM also knew that they could announce the next coming of Jesus and it wouldn’t have triggered the excitement and build-up of the iPhone. As a result, I’m not sure it’s fair to fault them for trying to get the info out about new products in advance of competitor announcements, nor am I sure it’s fair to expect what is in fact a rather small company to be able to quickly respond to the iPhone challenge.
At the same time, if in fact this really is a management issue, then I believe all of your criticisms are fair.
@ Perspective
Do you work for RIM? I suspect that a lot of our posters have vested interests in this company or that.
For the record, I love BB products. A LOT. If I criticize RIM/BB, it’s b/c I’ve come to expect more from them.
I don’t understand all of your analysis. You cast RIM in the underdog role. They’re the ruling regime. iPhone is the new kid on the block. I hope you don’t work for RIM b/c I don’t think they’d love the way you apologize for them.
Why would nothing they announce “not trigger the excitement and build-up of iPhone”? RIM has awesome products. RIM should not be on the defensive as you seem to imply. RIM has been highly successful historically and needs better publicity, marketing, etc. They need a marketing strategy to match the quality of the product.
And not for nothing, while the iPhone couldn’t meet all my specific business needs, I suspect that the Nokia e71 with BB services could. And if it’s there before the Bold, I’ll pull the trigger.
@ BG (again)
You’ve had hands on with both the Bold and the e71. You gave both units rave reviews. Which gets your vote.
iPhone, Instinct, Dare, Thunder. The only thing that i want is a not-very-expensive-GSM Touchscreen phone [4-band preferably] with a decent OS [no serious lags], a decent camera with flash [I already have 1.3 mp in my SGH-E376], full bluetooth, and a qwerty keyboard to write my notes and SMSs in English, French and Spanish!
Any suggestions?
oi! easy mate.. why so harsh?
goodness. you absolutely swayed the entire world’s thoughts about the bberry bold, son. like, you are the technological agenda setter of ‘08-’09. and i hope you never graduate like van wilder.
yea, i know some of you guys like that wordplay and stuff. lol i got more for days. http://DCtoBC.com. BLOGROLL ME. yzr.
but really though. is this joint as tough as the thunder? or vice versa? i don’t do touch screens. touch screens are cool in minority report. that’s it though. you can’t type a text message without royally botching it 30 times before you say what you wanna say.
say it ain’t true. somebody, say it ain’t true.
Isn’t T-Mobile going 3G nationwide in October? Last I heard, that was the word on the street…
This website sucks and so do the reviews.The design is trash and the developers are geeks/losers/bitches/chumps. These guys get made fun in public so they don’t come outside of there little apts. LOSERS
Instead of all the flames, why doesn’t someone ask something intelligent like: “Hasn’t RIM ever heard of the Osborne Effect?”
Verizon get the thunder first??? Big mistake on Blackbery’s part. AT&T shoud go first. Guys at Blackberry, you know this!