Orange mulls pulling the BlackBerry Bold (again)
According to a report issued this morning, European carrier Orange is considering dropping the Bold from its lineup after being unable to solve “ongoing technical issues.” Orange employees familiar with the matter have said the Bold has the highest rate of return in its category, something which is not sitting well with the higher-ups due to a previous issue with the Bold. Back in October, Orange halted sales of the Bold due to a high incidence of dropped calls, crashes and poor overall performance. After a more stable OS release from RIM however, sales of the Bold resumed. If Orange were to pull the Bold for the second time it would most likely remain sidelined for the duration of its market life which would deal a huge blow to RIM. To compound matters, this move would give a great deal of additional publicity to the woes of RIM’s latest flagship products, the Bold and the Storm. For the time being Orange has declined to comment on the matter, as was the company’s position before the Bold was pulled last year.
At the time of the first recall, every Bold on the Orange network was running OS 4.6.0.126, a very buggy release indeed. Since Orange reinstated the Bold however, it moved to OS 4.6.0.162 – also not the the most usable version issued in recent history. In all fairness to RIM and Orange customers, perhaps Orange should hurry up and release a new OS build like 4.6.0.190 or beyond (though many are a severe step backwards) as several other carriers have done.
Three of my friends and myself all have bold (we live in Canada), we’ve had no problems with the device. no dropped calls, huge boost in call quality, its been working like a dream.
I submitted this to BGR this morning after seeing it on my Bloomberg Terminal. The article I read on Bloomberg which simply cited this article, also said “There is also talk that RIMM is planning a touchscreen variant of the Blackberry Bold with rumours that the phone — code-named Pluto –could be revealed in the first half of this year.”
The touch screen bold was revealed in the RIM Roadmap that came out a few weeks ago. TS Bold and a Slider Storm are the 2 break out devices for 2009
Slider Storm would be pretty sweet. I hate the storms touch screen, but a physical keyboard would be pretty nasty plus you could actually type a message in a reasonable amount of time
Here’s to hoping that that keyboard will be QWERTY and not Suretype! Although that would detract from the awesomeness of a touchscreen Bold…
In any case, I wonder if AT&T’s also having problems with their Bold. Granted, it took them forever to actually release it because of problems, but now that it’s out, are they having as many problems as Orange? I wonder why Orange specifically is having so many problems…does the Orange Bold have an additional feature, like UMA?
i have no issues with my bold what so ever maybe orange has some NETWORK issues, bold has been flawless on att
Anyone else with the Bold on ATT? I’m thinking about purchasing one, but I bought a phone I’m not at all happy with (which is why I’m stuck on ATT now,) so I’m actually doing a little research before buying. Thanks
My AT&T Bold is working pretty well. I have had a few random reboot though. Otherwise it works quite well. I will probably be updating to .190 anyway as some have said that cured the reboots.
What exactly would be the point of a touchscreen bold?
I hate to say this, bu I think this time next year, RIM will be a has-been like Palm, and we’ll recognize that the Storm as the beginning of the end for RIM.
Isn’t the Blackberry Storm the touchscreen equivalent of the Blackberry Bold?
the bold has been my favourite phone i’ve ever had. no problems at all…perhaps this is an organge issue?
I have an “Orange” Bold, in fact got one on first day of release. Very quickly found the forums and access to OS updates. Had a few issues with Orange TS as they do not really have the knowledge and or training to support the Bold.
I would agree that Orange need to get their butt in gear and release .190 (that is what I am running). Hopefuly, OTA upgrades should start to make it easy to upgrade for the non BB Crackheads
KPW
@ Wifiguy: no, the two devices target different customer demographics.
These problems are very obviously Orange-specific, as my AT&T Bold works just fine. I have some friends up in America’s Hat on Rogers, and theirs work fine as well.
Also, BGR, I don’t think Orange dropping the Bold would be a *HUGE* blow to RIM. Uncomfortable, and definitely not as profitable, but it wouldn’t be killer. Killer would be Voda or Big Red dropping the Storm.
This must be Orange related…obviously they need a newer OS, I mean .214 Betas and I think .221 are already out and being tested. I’m running .190 and it’s simply a dream. This seems to be a more Orange related issue. Sell Bolds with current OSs and problem solved
Yeah, well, maybe Orange should first check their buggy network and other practices.
I have a Bold, and am on the french Vodafone (SFR) network in France, and it works totally flawlessly. I never have dropped calls, 3G/Edge unwanted variations or such.
FWIW, the Bold has completely met the expectations I had for it and then some.
I am on the 214 firmware version, which probably helps too.
As Zaroff just said, it’s probably just Orange’s fault!
Many Bolds around me too (on SFR, french Vodafone, and on Bouygues Telecom), and everyone seems satisfied so far!
And worth mentioning: Orange also have problems with their branded S60 Nokias (Symbian with a shitty side taskbar added, randomly rebooting and buggy as f*ck), and even with some of their branded dumbphones, isn’t it odd?
I don’t think it’s network related though, cause the same phones (unbranded) work flawlessly… and Orange’s network has the best coverage (maybe not in Paris, but overall) and their data plans are pretty nice…
Endgadget has bold coming to sprint any news on it hitting vzw???
I have the BOLD on AT&T, this is my favorite phone. I used a 3G IPhone prior and changed to this and couldn’t be more happy. As far as have issues, nope!! Very durable and I’m pretty happy they held it back so long!!
@Freddy:
First everyone blamed AT&T’s network. Now they are blaming Orange’s network. Somewhere along the line, we have to admit that it isn’t the network and it is the phone.
RIM has managed to screw up the software on their two flagship products. That is one huge, huge mess.
I hate to admit this, but BGR was correct when he told he spoke of the Buggy Bold and the Sucky Storm…
@Canis_Major :
Then how can you explain the fact that it works seamlessly for the vast, vast majority of users? And trust me, I use mine aplenty; if there were major issues on mine I would have spotted them by now. And there are none as far as I’m concerned, not even the impromptu reboot once in a while…
A slider storm seems unattractive and bulky. The Storm’s touchscreen works well. They just need to improve the software now.
Yeah..I’m with Zaroff, I’m what one will consider a heavy power user and it all works perfectly. .190 is the latest official update and any issues have been resolved. Internet is loads faster and renders better. They are running .162. ATT launched with .167, lets have Orange upgrade before we blame RIM. They are really fast on acknowloding issues with their devices and fixes.
This report came from the Guardian, the tech equivalent of Hello. Nothing substantive ever came out of the Guardian, and notice how none of the other sites have bothered with it? Orange, Voda, Verizon, Rogers, they have all stated in public that the Bold and Storm have the LOWEST return rates in their segment. BGR, the Apple Fanboy HQ, of course did a ’story’ on it. Too funny. Did you cover the one about the alien that looks like Keanu? Oh, and I’ve got a bridge in Kazahkstan to sell you….
I don’t have a single problem with my bold and I’m on AT&T with OS # 4.6.0.167 platform 4.0.0.157