RIM vs. AT&T; Bold vs. Thunder/Storm
We thought we’d give y’all an update on what we’ve been hearing so far. It’s been fairly well-documented that RIM isn’t too happy with AT&T for delaying the release of the Bold. It began with June, then to July, to August, to September — you get the point. But, there is a back-story here, so we are going to take a minute out to break it down for you guys.
First and foremost, according to what we have been told, AT&T approached RIM to build the BlackBerry Bold for them. RIM had zero plans of manufacturing a 3G device at the time. They reluctantly gave in to AT&T and started to manufacture the Bold. You can see their non-3G stance with the upcoming Kickstart, Javelin, etc. As it was put to us, “AT&T will not be accepting any non-3G phones on it’s network.” We’ve clearly seen this transition take place; we’re almost at the point of all 3G handset heaven, so this statement makes sense. The problem with the delays of the Bold is that RIM has the Thunder/Storm up their sleeves. We’ll get into that in a bit, but here’s a quick story on the Bold delays and why they happened.
To be fair, the delay with the BlackBerry Bold wasn’t really AT&T’s fault. Sure, they might have wanted to give Apple a little more shine or they might even have wanted to let their 90-day exclusive run out through the holidays to capture all those extra sales, but there were, and still are software issues. That’s evidenced by people that have bought the Bold already. Are they world-ending? No. But no one can oppose the fact that the Bold is the most un-BlackBerry-like device to come out of RIM in terms of stability and the OS. AT&T knew this. That’s why RIM would hand AT&T (and Rogers, too) “final final” builds of the OS. After a couple days, those were promptly sent back to RIM with “FAIL” written all over them. That continued for a very, very long time. Nonetheless, it came to the point where Rogers went ahead and released the device; it’s not 100%, and they, along with RIM, know that. (Does anyone remember how that RIM publicist assured the press that there were no delays with the Bold on AT&T and indirectly called us jerks?) But why the strained relationship with AT&T?
Well, you have AT&T basically demanding a 3G BlackBerry, RIM probably said, “eh, dudes, we’ve never done this before, you sure?” AT&T probably said, “Holla!” Then AT&T kept delaying the release of the Bold, and RIM sort of got pissed. They had the BlackBerry Thunder/Storm on the burner, but they held that way too close to the chest so AT&T didn’t find out about it. Why didn’t they want AT&T to find out about it? They were afraid AT&T would drop the Bold, the device they begged them to make, and want to run with the Thunder/Storm instead. You’ve got practically the entire world launching the Bold, except for the #1 BlackBerry carrier on the planet. Something doesn’t sit right with that. It might be AT&T’s quest for perfection on the device, it might be the fact that they make way more money on iPhone sales, or it could be a mix of both. RIM has increased the marketing budget with Verizon of the Thunder/Storm like we reported to you. Whether this was done to possibly makeup for lost time with the Bold in the U.S. or to spite AT&T still remains to be seen, yet we can’t help but think RIM is a getting a little kick out of it. One more tiny bit of info is BlackBerry Thunder/Storm pricing… we heard through various contacts it will sell for $199 with a 2-year agreement after in-store and MIRs. In any case, that’s our little back-story for the day regarding what happened with the Bold and the Thunder/Storm and an explanation why AT&T probably isn’t in Jim or Mike’s MY5.
Tags: 3G, AT&T, BlackBerry, bold, RIM, storm, thunder, Verizon
At&t sucks ass! In customer service,phones,and calling plans! Rim should just kick at&t in the nuts!!! Verizon for life!
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agreed.
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and even better spit would make a bild that runs on tmos” 1700 mhz and att frequncy make it a tmo exclusive an rub it in their face.
ATT has got to get thi monopolist mentality out of their heads they ar liken to to the Worst BUY of the telcos.
they have shiny advertising and all tha but when you go into the store you have some guy come up ans say BUY SOMTHING OR GTFO!
First arvato swaps phones forem then jd paower gives them a fail for network quality(IMO they should have long ago) and no ther playing the delay game like SOny did with the PS3.
ATT + EPIC FAIL
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RIM and AT&T are like a family that stays together for the kids, AT&T will have a GSM version of the storm in 3 months. RIM can’t say no to their largest consumer. AT&T was too eager to push 3G devices, I loose 3G calls more than RIM execs say “bobs your uncle” delays????? What are you talking a boot?
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Largest consumer or not isn’t relevant as long as verizon and vodafone have signed up to take enough devices from Rim.
Eventually, its inevitable that there will be other touchscreen devices from Rim, but you can be sure this one won’t.
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OK - here’s a thought (or three)…
At a RIM sponsored event last year, RIM CEO Michael Lazaridis said that Job ONE for BlackBerry was Security, and Job TWO was Battery Life. Email is actually in third place, and everything else comes after that.
Attempting 3G with today’s technology is extremely power consumptive as demonstrated by the iPhone and any other 3G Smart Phone.
If RIM is unhappy about having their arm twisted into making a 3G device, it’s because it goes against a fundamental principle of their design to have long battery life (without having a Brick of a Battery!).
That said, I don’t think RIM would have gone this route if they didn’t recognize that they would be seen as a technology and market laggard if they didn’t have a 3G device by now. After all, it’s been said the Bold has been in development for over two, maybe three years.
This is not unlike RIM developing a Touchscreen BlackBerry. Anyone that uses email extensively on a PDA knows that a touch screen is useless (all the bells and whistles and glam of an iPhone doesn’t mean diddly when you’re trying to reply to FIVE Messages!). None the less, we have a touchscreen BlackBerry due out before the end of the year. Why? Because of MARKET pressure - not pressure from any Carrier to have a Touch Screen.
If RIM is ticked at AT&T, it’s because of the (artificial?) delays AT&T has been inducing by refusing to accept the Bold as delivered, possibly for reasons other than AT&T wanting a technically superior product (yea RIGHT!).
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That crazy the Bold might not sell as much because of all the delays. It already has flaws in the OS AT&T should just put it out before another phone come along and steal what’s left of the Bold’s spotlight. AT&T really does suck after all.
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we have all seen the touch screen slide out keyboard drawings from RIM, AT&T will have it, not from market pressure, AT&T always wants to be the leader in new designs and technology. Introducing physical key boards and touchscreens is genius.
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@antman
“At&t sucks ass! In customer service,phones,and calling plans! Rim should just kick at&t in the nuts!!! Verizon for life!”
Say what you want about their customer service or phones, but the calling plans are virtually identical to Verizon’s, dollar for dollar.
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I would say a bit less expensive actually. Especially with the roll over minutes factored in.
One question, is 3g on GSM more power consuming than EVDO on CDMA? Because battery life on the VZW 8330 is excellent.
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Yes, it’s the touchscreen on the iPhone that prevents replying to multiple messages. Right. I guess that’s what I get for coming here in the mornings: abject stupidity. And yes, the touchscreen BB is coming because of market pressure. . .it’s called a business, after all. RIM realizes that corporate growth is slowing, and that their share will begin to fall not because their core customers are selecting other devices, but because in an effort to keep costs down, some of their customers will simply stop giving employees such devices. Without a phone aimed at consumers that are currently buying iPhones (i.e. people that want more than a candy bar-style Pearl), they have no shot with consumers. Unfortunately, what RIM doesn’t realize is that they have as little shot with consumers as Apple does with large business. This is also why there are so many whiners on these boards; many of the BB fans are sick of being asked about the iPhone, since that product is a hit with consumers, and the BB really isn’t. Unfortunately for them, this is not going to change, like the view from your mom’s basement.
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I find it strange that AT&T would keep failing RIM’s OS in its quest for “perfection” when it allowed Apple’s buggy iPhone 3G OS (which still seems to be problematic) out the door so quickly and easily. I’m guessing AT&T is hoping Apple will replace RIM as their bread and butter for selling data plans on their slow network. After all, the two of them have true exclusivity for the next four (?) years.
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Did a 17 year old write this? RIM accepted the contract with the terms involved. The article sounds makes RIM sound like a kid who cant take responsibility for his actions. Also, I should probably mention the apple iphone since this topic is about cell phones.
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RIM does have a 3G capable device, the BB 8703! Been out for a while but dont know how battery life is and they are building them for use in Japan as well. So this doesn’t exactly hold water but does make sense, maybe a few tiny holes as they are not mass producing 3G devices yet
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Two to three months away from release of the Thunder / Storm and no news on the UI. All we have had are some screen shots of mediocre key pads and the media player. Now thanks to BG we have a pricing point. Anyone heard anything on UI usabilty?
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I have to agree with the “it’s not 100%” comment in the article. My Bold has given me an error twice now in the 2 weeks I’ve had it. Nothing significant, but errors, nonetheless! I’ve never had an error message on any previous Blackberry before.
But regardless of those, the device is ready and AT&T are just being pricks about it. Release it already!
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the device has bugs and many people are having problems. AT&T is being too picky? yes but that is their choice - its in the contract.
AT&T should just push out the Bold - let it flop- and then wait for the Storm to go GSM.
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Exclusivity should be out the window completely. All these companies (not just cell providers) with all these exclusivity contracts just limits their potential.
Then they actually believe that so many people will jump to their network because they exclusively have the ‘it’ phone. I know there’s a good chunk of people that will follow wherever a device goes… but most people are under contracts and wouldn’t switch. I’d like to see some statistics on the # of new subscribers entirely attributed to a single phone.
And then from my own personal perspective… if you decide to only sell your device through one provider, then you’re telling me you don’t want me as a customer. I love reading about new devices and phones, but if I don’t see that it’s coming to my provider, then it’s no longer relevant to me. Switching is not an option for me.
Exclusivity is a bad business model.
It’s something that console game publishers finally started figuring out in the last couple of years.
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Two points:
1) If at&t went ahead, like Rogers, and launched the Bold already everyone on here would be complaining about the buggy OS, that RIM is going down the tubes, blah blah blah. I for one am pleased with at&t for pushing back on RIM, and not accepting a buggy OS. I’d rather have a more stable Blackberry, with its features working properly (cough Browser cough) than having the phone earlier.
2) Everyone complains about at&t on here, but there is a reason that it is choosen by the majority of companies for business purposes. It works around the world if needed, they give good discounts, and they are very good business providers. If you have ever seen Verizon pitch to a business (we’re talking fortune 100 companies here) you would think they are a bunch of 5 year olds. At&t is very professional, and comes across much more put together than Verizon, giving a company much more confidence in at&t. at&t also uses GSM, the world standard. I can hop on a plane today and use my Berry 99% of the places I go. Say what you want about the 8800 World Edition for Verizon, but that’s one phone! What if I wanted a curve, pearl, or some other non-smart phone? What if I was in a country for a short period of time that didn’t neccesitate a prepaid local cell phone? These are all arguements as to why at&t has the business market cornered. Granted their customer service isn’t that great, but i hardly have problems so I rarely have to call them, so to me it is a nonissue. If Verizon got it’s act together with its business sales force, switched to a GSM standard, and gave better business discounts then it would be a force to take on at&t.
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Interesting back story.
I use the Bold on Rogers and while there are some issues they are very minor - and do not detract from the overall exceptional device that the Bold is. So, I’m not buying that the phone isn’t ‘ready’ for release on At&T, or at least the phone itself is ready, perhaps the network (and 3G specifically) isn’t ready?
I can’t think of a single phone that is ‘perfect’ on release and there is no way that the issues that are on the Bold are any worse than any other phone. I’ve used an iPhone and it has similar battery and 3G issues that the Bold has - actually I think the iPhone is worse.
Anyway great device - extremely happy with it - glad Rogers got off there iPhone duffs and released it. Here’s hoping for our brethern from the south!
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Everyone is complaining about delays, but if the phone was released on time and had bugs people would have been complaining about the bugs instead. You can’t have it both ways (at least in the real world).
BlackBerry has a history of their phones not having bugs. AT&T wants the phone to be as close to perfect as possible so they delay it. That means the phone will be that much more stable when it is released.
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I was waiting for a while now for someone to mention that the bold is not the first 3G/GSM phone to be released by RIM. It was the 8707v not the 8703 that was the first 3g blackberry to work on GSM 3G network . It was released in 06 and needless to say it failed big time and even to this day people don’t mention this phone while talking about 3G Blackberries. Eveyone talks about the Bold or the CDMA blackberies but not the failed 8707v.
Its like RIM had this illegament child that no one knew about and those few who are aware try to hide or deny the existance of this Blackberry to avoid bringing shame to Blackberry family.
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I too use the Bold on Rogers. I have also used it on the AT&T network. My experiences lead me to believe it is more about issues with AT&T’s 3G network than it is about the Bold.
I have found the 3G in Canada where I live to be excellent. I am easily able to get 48 hours out of a single charge. With 3G and WiFi enabled.
In the US, I would be pushing it at 24hrs. I frequently found that the connection dropped to edge.
Sure, the Bold has some issues, show me a BB that doesn’t. My Curve leaked memory like a sieve.
Overall though the Bold is the best BB to date. I have had a bunch over the years.
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One of the biggest complaints that customer’s have is always about how crappy their phone is. The bold, and any blackberry for that matter, is targeted at the business class. God forbid at&t delay a device because the damn thing doesn’t work.
I work for at&t, I’ve seen many versions of the device, and it doesn’t work. I’ve seen at least 5 models that couldn’t even make a call inside of my store that had full 3G coverage!! The hardware looks and feels fantastic, but it doesn’t work folks.
At&t will not have another incident like the Treo 650, never again. RIM is not Palm, but hell the Palm OS is more stable than the Bold’s.
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@ BRG
Thank you. This is exactly the sort of story I’d been looking for. I’m surprised RIM didn’t go official with any of this to deflect most if not all blame to ATT but I guess they don’t want to totally damage their business with them.
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