Update: The Verizon BlackBerry 8830 has been officially announced and will be available May 14th…
We’ve heard a few rumors surrounding the Verizon BlackBerry 8830. The first is that the 8830 will be available in Verizon’s business channel May 14th and available to consumers on May 29th. We also heard that that Verizon BlackBerry 8830 will support microSD cards up to 2GB.
The big rumor, however, is that the BlackBerry 8830 will support iTunes. If this one turns out to be true Verizon will sell a BlackBerry 8830 devices hand over fist.
[Via Engadget Mobile]
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Andrew 04.19.07 at 4:01 pm
I don’t buy that for a second. I have no doubt that RIM will license some media player for the next OS update, as what they have now is just horrible, but as much as I would love to synch with iTunes, there is no way they would openly invite head to head competition with the iPhone.
Care to make a wager?
Robb Dunewood 04.19.07 at 5:51 pm
Andrew,
I see your point. I, however, don’t believe that the BlackBerry competes directly with the iphone. At least not the model coming out in June.
I see Apple having more of a problem with the BlackBerry synching with iTunes than RIM having an issue with it. As a matter of fact, if RIM can pull this off, it is a smart move on their part.
Your right when you say that what RIM has now as far as media player is horrible. In the eyes of any BlackBerry users that currently own an iPod, anything RIM comes out with that doesn’t synch with iTunes will be seen as subar and probably won’t get them to stop using their iPods. If their BlackBerry, however, can synch with iTunes and has a half usable interface, well, that’s nirvana in the eyes of a lot of BlackBerry users.
Neil Graytham 04.19.07 at 5:57 pm
I think I am with Rob on this one. I think Apple would have more of a problem with BlackBerries being compatable with iTunes.
Andrew 04.19.07 at 6:48 pm
Don’t get me wrong, I am one of the throngs of people that carry both devices - and Jobbs made no bones about that in his keynote on the iPhone. I would love to have iTunes on the BB, but RIM missed the boat on this one, the Pearl should have launched with ITunes (fast enough processor and all, where Motorola failed miserably).
I have come full circle on the iPhone, at first glance it didn’t compete directly with the BB, but now I am not so sure. If they can replicate push IMAP email, without the need for Exchange and can synch with Outlook/Yahoo/Google/Calendars etc., it might seriously dent the non corporate/BES Blackberry market. Of course if it only gets 3 hours of standby, then it is all moot, as no one will use it.
Anonymous 04.19.07 at 9:07 pm
Hrmm, blogs have enabled people to blindly hit the “publish” button without even attempting to do any fact checking. Come on guys, think about this for a sec…
Robb Dunewood 04.19.07 at 11:47 pm
Andrew,
Can’t RIM just catch the next boat? Seems to me like they could introduce it with Verizon but easily add it to the other carriers with a mere update.
Andrew 04.20.07 at 12:34 am
I am not sure that Apple will risk upsetting the AT&T exclusive with the iPhone. If you want iTunes on a phone, I am pretty sure you will only get it on the iPhone from here on in. They are throwing a TON of resources at this product.
Robb Dunewood 04.20.07 at 7:53 am
Now, that I agree with. I was just saying that if Apple allowed them to, RIM should jump at the opportunity to ad iTunes to the BlackBerry.
Nattie Liz 04.20.07 at 2:51 pm
If it’s a blackberry/mp3/music player that will synch with itunes then rim better make sure that the application that plays the actual songs is exactly what ipods have now because otherwise people will just see it as another cheap rip-off mp3 app. The thing that most people like about itunes and apple is the design and user interface.
Plus the memory will need to be mega and the battery life will be non-existent. I personally think all the advances in pdas and such are great, but that they are worthless simply because battery technology has not caught up yet.
Rick 04.20.07 at 5:46 pm
Big dummies, there have been other phones with iTunes…
Robb Dunewood 04.20.07 at 10:25 pm
Yes Rick, there have been, but, they’ve all sucked.
Brenda 04.25.07 at 3:45 pm
Is there any way I can buy this blackberry without going through a telephone operator? I was in a duty free shop in London Heathrow and they guy there seemed to say it was possible. I would rather not be strapped to a contract with my telephone company (T-Mobile).
Thanks
Brenda
Andrew 05.03.07 at 12:03 pm
Looks like RIM has done a deal with Roxio for Media manager technology, unless I missed this before this is new.
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/features/mediamanager.jsp
Seahawk02 07.24.07 at 3:26 pm
Similar question, thinking about switching to Verizon, like the BB for the obvious reasons, but tried the phone in the store and it had “delays†when calling a local plain old telephone system (POTS) land line. The LG8700/LG8600/Motorola RAZR were crystal clear. Not sure if the phone needed a software update or if the unit was there for a reason, but why would you demo an inferior product? Echo Gretchen & Bryan, very interested in how everyones BB 8830 is performing in regards to weak or problematic areas as compared to a standard phone. Being a Navy Sailor I will be faced with constant weak signals aboard ship and need a phone with stellar reception. Love to have the BB, but if it can’t manage to obtain or keep a phone call then it’s a non-starter. Hope this was just a VZW store problem. Thanks in Advance.