Comments on: RIM working on LTE BlackBerry for release when LTE is deployed?

By: matrix2004 from HOFO

matrix2004 from HOFO — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:40:08 +0000

Great news but i’m surprised Verizon is not mentioned rather the worldwide LTE rollout of LTE. Verizon will be the first to rollout LTE.

By: Anonymous Coward

Anonymous Coward — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:38:42 +0000

“Think they’ve learned something from the catastrophe that is the bold?”

The Bold was only a catastrophe because RIM was rushed and pressured by AT&T and their big contract (and I assume lots of $$$) to release a 3G device that they weren’t accustomed (or ready?) to releasing. The device hit market before RIM had time to fully fix all the issues that go along with using their OS on a 3g network (with a new flashy OS as well).

Now that they’ve had time to finesse and patch out most of the issues, the Bold really isn’t a bad device. Do keep in mind though it is still their first attempt at a 3G device.
(and frankly, for business purposes [the intent of the BlackBerry] you don’t need 3G anyway)

Planning ahead for LTE is the best thing they can do, avoiding their previous mistakes of rushing out the Bold.

By: tmo4life

tmo4life — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:34:31 +0000

As much as the rampant sarcasm is warranted, in fact, needed, I do believe this is actually significant considering 3g has been around for years on both gsm and cdma, and RIM is just now getting a 3g blackberry out for those gsm networks? Think they’ve learned something from the catastrophe that is the bold?

By: Crucial_Xtreme

Crucial_Xtreme — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:44:31 +0000

C’mon now shit, this is the breaking news story of the month, give the author a break why don’t ya

By: Dennis

Dennis — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:38:17 +0000

@James & Randy — thanks, that’s what I figured would be the answer.

Oh well, you’re right, this will give me a good “reason” to tell my wife that I HAVE to have that new phone (whatever it is)….hahaha

By: Randy

Randy — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:35:22 +0000

@Dennis

The radio tech for 3G and LTE is different enough that the Likelihood is no.

I’m sure that by then, RIM will have something better available once the LTE Networks are up and running.

By: James

James — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:29:25 +0000

You get to buy a new device that can support LTE. Currently, there are no commercially available handsets that can use (what will be) LTE. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t recall a specific LTE device even announced.

Fortunately, this will provide a good “excuse” to buy a new phone when the time comes

By: Dennis

Dennis — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:09:57 +0000

Will current 3G phones be able to be upgraded to LTE (ie, the BB STORM?) OR, will I have to buy an LTE-enabled STORM again in a year or so?!

By: Randy

Randy — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:02:12 +0000

@David_uk

LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. it’s the “Successor” radio technology to UMTS (3G). It will be better, faster, stonger, etc.

By: David_uk

David_uk — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:09:27 +0000

What does LTE stand for?

By: James

James — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:00:24 +0000

Sprint is losing a million customers a quarter. Literally. A MILLION A QUARTER. For those of you that can’t do math at home, that’s 4 million customers per year that Sprint loses.
Meanwhile, VZW and AT&T combine for close to 160 million customers, a number that is only going up at this point.
Where do you think handset manufacturers are going to focus their investment?

Moving right along, here’s another thing we can all hope for: an LTE chip in the CDMA iPhone. While we’re at it, maybe VZW will force Apple to support MMS and maybe even copy&paste. Maybe by then (2010? 2011?) the background notification system for iPhone will be live. Who knows, right?

By: DavidB

DavidB — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:10:23 +0000

This is news? It would be news if they were NOT developing an LTE Blackberry.

That said, what about 4G that you can have NOW (in Detroit or Baltimore)? WiMax is live, and will be growing fast and widely deployed before the first USA LTE towers even start going up. Or does RIM not care since its Sprint? I betcha there’s and Android WiMax device in the pipes (what with Google’s millions invested in Clearwire).

By: James

James — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:54:18 +0000

So my next Blackberry purchase will be the “Niagara” and it looks like my next Blackberry AFTER that will be LTE. Awesome.

@Markk:
Of course VZW will have the best/soonest/whatever 4G network too. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

Hell, at this rate, I might have faster internet speeds on my phones in 2010 than at my home.

By: Markk

Markk — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:48:42 +0000

The only carrier looking at an 4G launch anytime soon is VZW who has committed to rollout in 2010, the rest will be rolling out later than that, AT&T has committed to LTE rollout 5yrs down the road so get ready =)!

By: mangenius

mangenius — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:00:30 +0000

LOL at all the sarcasm in this one

By: ReL

ReL — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:52:02 +0000

Ip-Based Network, huh? How that gonna coincide with IPv6? Or are the carriers planning on rocking dymanics to everyone?

By: Randy

Randy — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:47:31 +0000

In other news, Night will fall later today, and Christmas will come on Dec 25th. Seriously, how is this news?

By: 1adonis1

1adonis1 — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:41:40 +0000

Could be a smart move on tmobile’s part. They are missing out on all the 3g, but a move straight to LTE could bring them a shitload of customers.

By: branon

branon — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:17:32 +0000

Interesting. This may bode well for T-mobile USA which has also decided to bypass 3.5g and move straight to LTE.

By: zephxiii

zephxiii — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:39:27 +0000

How about working on making all your GSM products 3G??

By: Eli4MVP

Eli4MVP — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:26:21 +0000

So,does that mean I just wasted some money on a G1 at 3G speeds when I could’a/would’a/should’a have waited a little longer for a 4G…?

By: Crucial_Xtreme

Crucial_Xtreme — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:23:31 +0000

BBSE has had a team in place for a few months now. Quite low on the priority list as well.

By: CanisMinor

CanisMinor — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:19:18 +0000

Wow, what a scoop there Michael! In other amazing scoop news, I hear that RIM is also working on longer battery life. And Apple is working on the third iPhone