AT&T kicks off BlackBerry Bold sales on the web

Some stores have already let a few slip out the door a day early, but for those of us who haven’t left our parents’ basements since 1989, turns out there’s now a sweet alternative to heading down to the brick-and-mortar. The BlackBerry Bold’s now up on AT&T’s site ready to ship for $299.99 after rebate on a two-year contract, so go ahead and whip out the plastic. If you haven’t been using a Curve or an 8800 lately, prep your unsuspecting thumbs with some hardcore workouts — and if you have been using a Curve or an 8800, get those freakishly muscular, overbuilt digits out of our sights.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

GSM-only BlackBerry Storm clears the FCC

Folks in North America don’t have too much cause to get excited over this one, but anyone planning on buying a BlackBerry Storm from, say, Vodafone, can now rest a little easier knowing that the less-than-secret GSM-only version of the phone has cleared the all-important hurdle that is the FCC. There’s not exactly any other surprises to be found here, naturally, but if it’s test reports you’re after, you can find plenty of those by hitting up the read link below.

AT&T's BlackBerry Bold showing up in stores a day early

Got $299.99 (well, $399.99 that you can afford to get rid of today while you wait for a $100 mail-in rebate)? How about a burning desire to have the absolute latest, greatest QWERTY BlackBerry money can buy? You might want to give your local AT&T branch a quick ringy-dingy then, because some of ‘em already have Bolds. Yep, that’s right — they’re just sitting there in a back room with sad faces, hoping that someone will love them enough to come by and take them home. Do you have room in your heart to save a Bold today?

[Thanks, Kal]

RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8900 gets hands-on treatment

Oh RIM, why must you torture us? Just when we’d moved beyond our nightly dreams of the Javelin and had our sights set on a Bold, here you go reminding us of just how luscious the next-generation Curve looks to be. Sure, the omission of 3G makes us none too happy, but it’s hard to kvetch about the design. The Boy Genius managed to get his paws around one of the forthcoming BlackBerry Curve 8900s, and his initial impressions are almost universally positive. He’s totally digging the size, the screen, the keyboard and even the bezel. That’s right, the bezel. Check the read link to see what the fuss is all about.

Verizon considering crazy cheap Storm pricing?

Any Storm hopeful in the colonies who’s taken a gander at Vodafone’s pricing scheme this week is probably strongly considering packing a couple duffel bags with the bare essentials they need to survive and moving to the UK to strike out on a new life — a life filled with cheap Storms. Not so fast, though — is it conceivable to think that Verizon could go the same route? At first glance, you might think that the Storm’s cachet as RIM’s flashiest, highest-end device to date would be enough to lure in customers by the droves at any price, but with the enormous price pressure placed on the industry by a $199 iPhone 3G in a heavily-overlapping target demo, rumor has it that Big Red’s looking at a severe subsidy to meet or beat its crosstown rival. Analysts are thinking (wishfully, we suspect) that a $99 Storm isn’t entirely out of the question if Verizon wants to sell an insane number of ‘em through the holidays, but just how long would it take to recoup that kind of loss?

AT&T BlackBerry Bold unboxing

Yeah, the Bold’s out in pretty much every country recognized by the United Nations at this point, but to attention-starved Americans, we can only say this: it’s new to you. Unlike the Epix, AT&T has spared RIM’s latest and greatest full QWERTY handset from any over-the-top carrier branding, opting for a tiny logo at the bottom of the shell and letting the gorgeous industrial design speak for itself. We’re not typically BlackBerry people, but we’ve got to admit — this thing feels solid, substantial, and generally just great in the hand, and we can see how you’d feel lost without it in no time. Oh, and yes, everything you’ve heard about the display is true — it’s insanely crisp, bright, and easy on the eyes. We’ll have a more thorough look at the AT&T version of the Bold in the not-too-distant future, but in the meantime, enjoy some photography, won’t you?

Vodafone's BlackBerry Storm pricing plans eke out

Remember when Vodafone told us to hold our horses a bit on the pricing details when the BlackBerry Storm was made official this month? Believe it or not, the holding period is over, and now we’re staring some actual price tags in the face. Reportedly, Voda will make the touchscreen BlackBerry available with four different pricing plans, so we’ll get right to it. The Perfect Choice Access 100 plan will get you a Storm for €109.99 ($141), while the per-month rate (€49.99; $64) will include 100 minutes (yes, seriously), 100 texts (still for real here, people), 1GB of BlackBerry e-mail, mobile TV and ten music downloads. The Perfect Choice Access 200 / 400 / 600 plans bump up the minutes and texts just as you’d expect for €64.99 / €84.99 / €99.99 per month while netting you the phone for €64.99 / €69.99 / €49.99, respectively. For the full spill, head on down to the read link — meanwhile, here in America, we all sit waiting for Verizon to follow suit…

[Via CrackBerry]

AT&T officially delivers free WiFi to BlackBerry / iPhone users

We thought we’d heard the last of this whole AT&T / Starbucks WiFi deal yesterday, but alas, we were terrifically mistaken. AT&T has come forth today with two fluffy press releases that flesh out the details, and amazingly, there are some inclusions that we weren’t made aware of yesterday. For starters, all iPhone / iPhone 3G customers will now have free (and seemingly limitless) access to AT&T WiFi hotspots across the US — we’re talking Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, the whole lot. Additionally, the carrier has welcomed select BlackBerry users — that’s the Bold for now, the Pearl 8120 / 8820 “later this year” — into the same deal, though the official verbiage mentions that an “unlimited data plan” is required. If you didn’t make the cut this time, fret not — AT&T has plans to invite “more mobile devices” into the fold here shortly.

Read - Free AT&T WiFi on iPhone / iPhone 3G
Read - Free AT&T WiFi on BlackBerry

BlackBerry Curve tops curious list of most popular handsets in US

There’s a pretty substantial difference between “sales” and “popularity,” as evidenced by the glaring dissimilarities between this here top 10 list and the one churned out earlier this month by NPD. AvianResearch got its data by polling 100 service representatives at retail stores to “gauge consumer interest in handsets available at the four major carriers in the United States.” In September, RIM’s BlackBerry Curve maintained the “lead,” with Apple’s iPhone securing a very distant second place. LG’s Dare and the BlackBerry Pearl followed suit, while the LG Voyager, Samsung Instinct, LG Rumor, LG Shine, Palm Centro and Nokia 5310 closed out the rear. But seriously, since when has popularity trumped cold hard sales? Ah well, here’s your cookie, Curve.

Guts of BlackBerry Bold found to cost $170

Not that it really matters to consumers one way or another — after all, if you want a Bold, you’ll pay the asking price — but recent analysis by research firm iSuppli has found that parts and materials used to make the device “cost $158.16, and that assembly and testing add another $11.25, for a total cost of $169.41.” Just for comparison, the Curve costs a cool $103 to build, and assuming RIM can sell the Bold to carriers at around $350, it’ll net a gross margin of around 45% before R&D costs, software, marketing, shipping and freebies given to obscenely wealthy celebs are taken into account. The report (er, the part about the nice margins) should come as welcome news to shareholders, who have recently been worried that the current economic situation may keep individuals from snatching up new ‘Berrys at a breakneck pace. Now, if only RIM / AT&T would let the thing get through testing, we’d be all set to contribute to those margins here in the US. Ahem.

T-Mobile releases BlackBerry Pearl 8120 in three tasty new colors

T-Mobile’s been through the whole Pearl color blowout rigmarole before — but not since the heyday of the 8100 have we seen this kind of selection. Those rumored shades from last month have materialized for the WiFi-equipped 8120, ushering in Black Emerald, Frost, and Indigo for the equally colorful price of $149.99 on contract after rebate. Just like the original colors, the new ones feature HotSpot @Home calling, a 2-megapixel camera, and microSD expansion up to 8GB. We’ve said it before, but it might bear repeating here, T-Mobile: make these $50, sell them alongside the 8220 for the same price, and we’re in.

Read - Black Emerald
Read - Frost
Read - Indigo

RIM's BlackBerry Bold (probably) hitting AT&T on October 27th

RIM’s BlackBerry Bold wasn’t technically supposed to have launched already — that’s the magic in being all vague about a release date, we guess — but we can safely say we’re absolutely relieved to finally have something out in the open here. Even if it’s not carved in stone, per se. An internal AT&T e-mail discovered today notes that the “latest ETA” for the release of the Bold is October 27th (with a price TBD), though we’d feel a lot better about that if it said “definitive release date.” At any rate, we’ll find out in just ten days. Ten. Days.

T-Mobile launches BlackBerry Pearl 8220

The BlackBerry Pearl 8220 runs neck-and-neck with the Storm for the title of “most leaked RIM device of 2008,” but for what it’s worth, T-Mobile is just now getting around to announcing a date and price for the most fliptastic phone in Waterloo’s ever-expanding lineup. That’s good news — but perhaps the best news is that the launch date just happens to be today (for one of the two available colors, anyhow). The black version of the 8220 will be appearing online and in T-Mobile stores today, while the dark red will be following on a week later on Monday, October 20. Both will run $149.99 on a two-year contract. Continue reading…