Comments on: AT&T BlackBerry 8820 Will Be Locked Down Tightly

By: Roger

Roger — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 02:55:31 +0000

My 8703e with Bell Mobility in Canada has had it’s GPS functionality crippled by the carrier since the very beginning. I have repeatedly asked the carrier about enableing the feature, but no one at tech support knows what I am talking about…very frustrating when you have Blackberry maps installed, but GPS disabled…

By: MichaelBB

MichaelBB — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 15:55:54 +0000

I have an 8800 and went to RIM’s site and downloaded the BBMaps, this was supposed to be disabled or not allowed on the AT&T’s 8800, works fine, never had a problem getting satlelites or service. I live in upstate NY and we go quading on Windam Mountain, had the 8800 and the8830 from VZW the 8800 had the best signal and data connection. All this hype about locking down and all that is BS until the device is released and people play with it. Last word I got from the business sales rep was Aug 24th for release. But she also said that they will not have them in the warehouses till 2days prior to the release.

On another note it would be nice to see RIM open retail stores. and as far as AT&T discontinuing the BB’s nah never happen. I work for NYS and the agency I am with has over a thousand of these BB’s if AT&T were to drop them they’d loose a ton of money. There customer service has gotten somewhat better but still has a long way to go.

Someone will hack the OS sooner or later if they lock too many features down or sales will just drop and they will have warehouses full of these things

By: Robb Dunewood

Robb Dunewood — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:25:39 +0000

I agree with hellno on this one. AT&T being RIM’s biggest GSM carrier doesn’t matter because there are other carriers that those displaced BlackBerry users would gladly switch to. AT&T would loose corporate customers hand over fist if they employed such a move.

By: hellno

hellno — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:15:58 +0000

Does Apple or At&t even have a reason to worry about the 8820 and the iPhone? Thought they both have their own audiences? As I mistakenly pointed out above IMO the Pearl and Pearl 2 are more competitor’s to the iPhone.

By: hellno

hellno — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:06:45 +0000

Simon,

Many Blackberry customers will flat out refuse to switch over to Windows Mobile or a Palm. Most of us have been there, done that and know better than going back to either one of those messes. At&t’s rumored threat would backfire with each customer churning over to a provider which provides what customers want.

Brings back the main problem here WHY THE HELL do service providers have any say in what devices, with what functions, what applications, and what GUI’s we have on our devices? Service providers need to get the networks in order and stop restricting the consumer. Let customers do what we want on our devices, charge us for the service we use, and count your lucky stars we chose to continue using your wireless service over the other guys.

Remember this is all still a rumor. I believe boy genius before blackberrycool on this topic. The “New Pearl” cdma has GPS, the “New Pearl” GSM has Wifi
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2007/08/09/blackberry-pearl-2-blackberry-curve-8310-blackberry-8820-slides/#more-1524

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:10:17 +0000

The WLAN cannot be locked by a carrier, says RIM

By: Simon

Simon — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:54:59 +0000

AT&T is RIM’s biggest GSM customer worldwide, and most of their customers are locked into plans. Sure, AT&T would be hurt by a few users cutting out for carriers that still offer BlackBerry service, but RIM would be hurt a hell of a lot more in the long term as users switch over to Windows Mobile or Palm which AT&T would still be carrying. In the long and short term, RIM would lose out.

By: Robb Dunewood

Robb Dunewood — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:25:39 +0000

I have a hard time believing that a threat by AT&T not to carry the 8820 or any future BlackBerrys alone would cause Research in Motion to cave in completely to AT&T’s demands.

If anything RIM should have realized with the release of the iPhone that the manufacturer does have a bit of control if they have a widely popular device. It would hurt RIM if AT&T stopped supporting BlackBerry devices in the short term, however, it would hurt AT&T for years to come as BlackBerry users flock to other carriers that still carry the BlackBerry.

By: hellno

hellno — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:59:33 +0000

for once gquaglia you are correct! Which is why I don’t believe the rumor yet either. At&t would refuse to buy all future BB’s? I call BS on that too. I agree let At&t do that and commit business suicide. Then I bet you’d never ever see a carrier pull such a stupid move again.

By: hellno

hellno — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:54:50 +0000

Morphius, whats the options?

GSM customers churn to T-Mo?
cdma customers churn to Sprint?
Drop RIM Blackberry’s and churn to the iPhone?
Put the pressure on RIM to serve their number one master?
Put pressure on At&t to make sure this stay a rumor?
Put pressure on verizon to reverse course on the anti-consumer greed culture which has taken over the company and ruined any good that NYNEX or Bell Atlantic had?

This carrier dictation for the device manufactures is NOT a good thing and is like a virus ready to spread. As consumers this is something to put the big old NO to and for service providers this is nothing to be proud of, at least some smart consumers are on to your games.