Comments on: Sould RIM Release CDMA BlackBerrys Sooner Because Of The iPhone?

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:24:28 +0000

So? Sould they or souldn’t they?

Misspelling aside, I too am a bitter, bitter, bitter VZW loyalist. I hate myself so very harshly for staying with VZW while the cool kids are all watching Youtube videos on the iPhone 3Gs.

We VZW loyalists just riding the short bus. Really, we do.

By: Robb Dunewood

Robb Dunewood — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:37:01 +0000

I don’t think it is a moot point at all Johnnheff,

Verizon is years away from going to LTE and it is safe to assume that half a dozen or more CDMA BlackBerrys will come out before they do. 3G, which is still slower the EVDO in the U.S. and doesn’t have near the coverage footprint in the, so, I can’t imagine that Verizon feels significant pressure to move to LTE before they milk every penny out of their EVDO network.

By: beastmaster

beastmaster — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:46:38 +0000

if the cdma version came out sooner, why would anyone buy the gsm version?

Blackberry needs to push VZW to get the CDMA versions to market sooner if they want to compete with the iPhone 3G. there are only really 2 negatives to the iPhone: battery life and AT&T

By: Johnnyheff

Johnnyheff — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:09:45 +0000

…isn’t this point a bit moot, Rob? Seeing as VZW is changing their standard with their next gen technology? Unless things have changes to the contrary, I thought their next gen was going to be GSM based?

thoughts?

By: Thought

Thought — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:18:17 +0000

I know Robb has beaten this point home many times before, but it is so true.

RIM constantly makes a huge mistake in not developing their CDMA BB’s for VZW concurrently with their GSM counterparts.

As Robb noted before, now this is biting them as they try to release the Thunder to keep up with the iPhone.

I also concur that the Bold on VZW, if it were released at the same time as on ATT, would sell huge…it would probably outsell the Thunder on VZW. The Bold on VZW would be a better competitor to the iPhone on ATT.

Given the large percentage of sales for RIM that come from the CDMA side in the US, I just don’t get why they constantly treat this market as second priority.

By: JaggedXJ

JaggedXJ — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:05:14 +0000

I think it is time for the phone suppliers to stop bending to Vzw dinosaur tech. I know they are eventually going to be on 4G/LTE, but almost a decade after the GSM alliance. WTF.
I guess ideally the manufacturers would only build “world phones” with GSM that could be used standalone & trouble free, or CDMA & locked to all hell w GSM as backup out of the country. I know it would make the design/circuitry more complex but I would think it easier to make one “unified” device than 2+ flavors of the “same” device.
/rant

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:00:02 +0000

They should do that in the US Market. Can they? Will they? I’m sure they sell more GSM devices, since they can market those in Canada and Europe — which they can’t do with CDMA. I don’t know how much more in technical resources it takes to develop the CDMA and GSM simultaneously — which I suspect is the issue.

By: modidlee

modidlee — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:01:26 +0000

This is a very good point. I’m a Verizon subscriber. I want the Bold but hate AT&T. And I see people going into Verizon everyday looking at their selection but choosing to go with AT&T because of the iPhone. I don’t exactly know the technical aspects of releasing these devices but I don’t understand why they can’t develop the CDMA and GSM versions simultaneously if they know it’s going to be released in both versions anyway.

By: Amish

Amish — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:11:48 +0000

I am a die-hard verizon subscriber, however, isn’t it kind of sad that they can put out a device a year after AT&T, lock it down to hell, and charge me what they AT&T charged for the same device a year ago?

I bought an iPhone 3G. It will not be my primary device but I wanted one so I bought one. The coverage is not quite as good as Verizon, however, other than not being able to make calls from my basement which I can do from my 8830 and having one dropped call where I could use my 8830, I haven’t been disappointed in AT&T’s coverage. My plan is up in November. I may completely swicht to AT&T and get the BlackBerry Bold uless I really like the BlackBerry Thunder when it comes out.