“RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said Thursday that the phone is still undergoing the certification process in which AT&T tests all new handsets to make sure they work well on its wireless network.”

For those of you that haven’t been following, AT&T’s implementation of 3G is about as bad as it possibly could be. Apparently they decided not to take a look at the rest of earth to see how other carriers have successfully implemented and run 3G over the passed several years.

At the end of the day, consumers really could care less about why or where the blame lies for all of the BlackBerry Bold delays. All that I know is it has been over a year since a new BlackBerry device has been released. Different variants and colors on the same device don’t count.

There is no official word on when the Bold will finally appear on AT&T’s network. “This year” is all that we have to go by.

I wonder if the Verizon BlackBerry Storm will make it out first?

[Source]

 
It really looks like the AT&T BlackBerry Bold is going to come out at the beginning of November because RIM has put up registration page for BlackBerry Bold Launch Parties being held at various locations around the country.

• Chicago, IL······October 15, 2008
• Dallas, TX······October 16, 2008
• Atlanta, GA······October 21, 2008
• Miami, FL······October 22, 2008
• Washington, DC······October 28, 2008
• New York, NY······October 30, 2008

Do you find it kind of odd that there isn’t a single party west of Texas or is it just me?

We also know that a GSM variant of the BlackBerry Storm (or Thunder) is coming to Vodafone over in the UK, however, we haven’t heard any plans about the GSM touchscreen BlackBerry showing up in RIM’s biggest market.

I think that, at this point, it is safe call the AT&T BlackBerry Bold launch, or, lack there of, a complete debacle. Some of it is probably RIM’s fault but much of it, I believe, has to do with AT&T being the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the U.S.

The fact still remains that AT&T is the worlds largest BlackBerry carrier and the most revolutionary BlackBerry to come out in the passed few years won’t make it on to their network.

I wonder how they will react to that…

According to the Globe and Mail, the reason, at least in part, that the AT&T BlackBerry Bold hasn’t been launched is becasue the iPhone 3G is such a 3G bandwidth hog it clogs AT&T’s network to the point of not having enough resources to effectively launch the Bold.

The iPhone utilizes a “ping-pong” technology which must constantly access AT&T’s network in order to receive data and e-mails, placing a great strain on the telecom company’s cellular infrastructure. “We believe that AT&T is now realizing that it can have up to 20 BlackBerrys for every iPhone on its network. AT&T will need to spend as much as $1-billion (U.S.) to repair its network.

 
So, the latest rumor about the AT&T BlackBerry Bold Launch is that it may actually make it out by the end of September. This is according to internal AT&T information gathered by BlackBerry News.

My guess is that AT&T is now in “get the Bold out as soon as possible” mode as they know die-hard BlackBerry users are more loyal to the BlackBerry than they are to AT&T’s network. The BlackBerry Storm and the BlackBerry Javelin will soon be available on other networks and AT&T probably doesn’t want to be in the position of trying to keep a BlackBerry subscriber based on the strength of their network over the coolness of the new device that is out.

 
Rumor has it that the BlackBerry Bold will finally make it’s debut in the United States launching on AT&T September 12th with a price tag of $299. This is based on a tips from store employees.

Most rumors had it coming out in the first half of the month so this sounds about right. I guessed that the AT&T BlackBerry Bold would costs 300 bucks although I had hoped that they would stick a $199 price tag on it to remove the objection that the iPhone is cheaper.

I still think that it will sell like mad to business users and existing BlackBerry users and even do pretty well with new consumers. You just can’t beat texting with a physical keyboard.

Let’s hope that RIM beats Apple to the punch with a BlackBerry Slider.

[Source]

RIM has been able to get by with their old release strategy largely in part because Verizon subscribers generally don’t switch carriers. RIM knows that even if a CDMA BlackBerry is released on Verizon a year after it it first released on a GSM carriers that there will be Verizon subscribers eagerly awaiting its launch.

Although I don’t agree with this strategy I can see some of the benefits of it from RIM’s perspective… The main benefit being that it allows RIM to capture lightening in a bottle twice. If a new GSM BlackBerry is a big hit you can pretty much be sure that the CDMA version will hit big as well. The problem, however, with this strategy is that your biggest GSM carrier becomes the flag ship carrier for the the hottest mobile device, well…ever and that device is not named BlackBerry.

In case you haven’t been keeping up with the news lately, Apple released a little mobile device called the iPhone 3G not quite a month ago and most reports indicate that it it is the fastest selling mobile device in history. It just so happens that not only is AT&T the flag ship carrier for the iPhone, but, they are the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the United States.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, however, I don’t believe that it is just a coincidence that AT&T is experiencing huge success with the iPhone 3G and the BlackBerry Bold, which was supposed to makes it’s debut last month is probably not coming out until next month or later. AT&T, being the sole carrier of the iPhone in the U.S., has a strong desire to sell as many iPhones as they can. This is not to say that they don’t want to sell as many BlackBerrys as they can, however, I believe that they are going to focus their efforts on what is hot right now.

This is a problem for RIM because GSM BlackBerrys, with the exception of the upcoming BlackBerry Thunder, always come out significantly before their CDMA counterparts. If AT&T isn’t all gung-ho about releasing a new device, this poses a problem for RIM because T-Mobile just isn’t big enough to be the primary GSM provider in the U.S.

To make a long story short, I’d be willing to bet that the BlackBerry Thunder will be the first of several new devices to come out in a CDMA variant first.

Verizon also dropped its industry leading churn rate down to 1.12% down from 1.3% last year. I am going to go out on a limb and say that churn will rise modestly in Q3 as AT&T just released the iPhone 3G at a very attractive price point.

This is two quarters in a row that Verizon has made more money than AT&T so apparently, being the biggest doesn’t necessarily mean that you are the best.

[Source]

According to BlackBerry News, BlackBerry Bold seed stock has started to float around. The Bold hasn’t appeared in the AT&T system which is one of the reasons we believe that the the device is still over 30 days away, however, we should start seeing folks other than RIM execs and celebrities with BlackBerry Bolds out in the wild.

[Source]

We know that there are consumers who either just don’t want an iPhone, or, are on some carrier other than AT&T and aren’t going to switch so that they could get an iPhone, but, all the iPhone buzz makes them want to get a new device too. My guess is that carriers other than AT&T are already starting to realize these consumers and it won’t be long before AT&T starts to notice them as well.

The big question for me is if the BlackBerry Bold will be out in time to realize these benefits of the iPhone buzz. We know that BlackBerry users overwhelmingly won’t be lured by the iPhone and will wait on the BlackBerry Bold no matter how long it takes for it to come out. I am wondering, however, if RIM and AT&T will release the Bold in time enough to capture the attention of the smartphone consumer with no allegiance that would actually compare multiple devices and weigh the pros and cons of each that initially came into the store to look at the iPhone 3G.

This worked for RIM last year with the BlackBerry Curve. Do you think that it will work again this year with the BlackBerry Bold?