RIM's co-CEO sez AT&T still testing BlackBerry Bold
By Darren Murph 
posted October 3rd 2008 5:15PM
posted October 3rd 2008 5:15PM
[Via phonescoop]
posted October 3rd 2008 5:15PM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Bummer, my friend Allyx has been really excited for this phone. Hate to break the news to her. :(
At least they'll iron any bugs out and release a top notch product, can't complain much about that! Keep us posted on a release date Engadget!
Go to Canada.. go to the source by circuit city and it is 649$ no contract (and that's in Canadian $ so more like 600$ us....)
Honestly, do you think there is something wrong with the phone that requires more testing when they have laready released the phone in a number of other countries without any mention or issues with the problems they are describing. No one has said anything about batter life problems etc with the Bold phones that are already released. There's more to it than we will ever know but there is nothing wrong with the Bold to prevent it from being released. It's a business decision to delay the release date and a very poor one at that. Just my opinion....if there was something wrong with the phone, why is it OK to release in other countries?
What's the problem with AT&T?
Bold has been available outside the U.S. for months now.
Yeah. It released last month in India. Costs: Rs. 32,000/- (US $750) !!! And in US, its going to be just $400 !! Worth the wait !
The have been testing the blackberry forever now. The complaints caused by the iPhone and iPhone 3G were a result of Apple and At&t not preparing correctly for a hyped release date. Tons of new data users entered on their data network, which was not designed nor capable to handling that kind of load all at once. I can't wait to get my hands on it!
Jonathan
i guess it's a trade off - rush the launch, run into bugs & potentially send customers ready for a new phone into iPhone territory for lack of other option
or keep delaying the launch and release a near-perfect product + hype buildup for the phone itself.
Why would they go to the iPhone? It WAS released with bugs and they probably haven't even fixed them all yet.
Right, and it's shrewd marketing too, seems more like a political campaign than a product launch. Turn your product's delays into a GOOD thing, by reminding people of the problems their competition had (has?) due to launching to a schedule rather than when the product was ready.
Erm, I think the profit margin is pretty good on the iPhone for AT&T, don't know about the Bold. Maybe they are trying to get them all to buy iPhones so they'll make more money now, + more money later for accessories... upgrades.. the next hottest phone... etc.
has come and gone
came and went
Right, if by testing they mean crippling. Honestly, what are they testing for so GD long?
They don't. The bold's been available in Canada for over a month.
It's just that AT&T can't release the Bold until it upgrades it's horrible 3g infrastructure.
I wish I had a giant DELAYED stamp so I could go around stamping random things.
I've been waiting for this phone forever....RIM should give T-mobile the exclusivity so it'll come out faster :)
I'm so, so, so, so tired of waiting for this phone. AT&T has ruined my (already very little) faith in them.
the iphone also gives you rabies, so there is a downside.
It's not just AT&T.
I was "sold" one six weeks ago by Orange as part of an upgrade package.
I'm still waiting.
Apparently they got 1000 on Monday and they are still being tested.
Still waiting !
Ross
http://www.RossGoodman.com
AT&T always pulls this crap on new HTC phones too.
"come and gone" not "come and went" please go back to get your GED.
please go back and get a life
yea go to chile
im chilean and go to chile
I dont own the bold, but get it in chile
even tough the bold cost 700$ its still better than waiting!!!
That's right. everyone should buy a $700 round-trip ticket to Chile, go there, buy a Bold, and come back.
The Bold has been scheduled for launch Oct 23rd, with a official launch party the 22nd. We have known for over a month that the Bold was not going to be launched on the 2nd. Lastly, the issues with the Bold have been 100% the fault of RIM. They have been extremely slow to respond when repairing software issues that are critical to AT&T's network performance.
We're almost there folks.
Hmmm, brand new Engadget account created for the sole purpose of giving these dates and pointing the finger of blame?! I don't know, but I'm seriously inclined to believe you!
How bad are the network performance issues and is it really possible RIM will have it straightened out in time? I'm in a unique situation requiring I jump to AT&T as soon as possible but don't want to sign on with a Curve or iPhone if I can avoid it.. But I'm starting to think I can't avoid it.
That phone is available in Mexico right now, you can check it a telcel's website (carrier)
The VZW Storm is having just as many if not more issues then the BOLD and I agree with imaninja RIM is awful with fixing software issues. I think they are on like revision 8 of the software its just crazy and VZW hopes to have this out in November I would wait a few weeks / months before buying one just to see all the bugs the phone has at launch.
You guys in the States have one hell of a phone coming your way soon (hopefully).
I'm a mac guy and had the iPhone for a week before returning it to Rogers and got it exchanged for a Bold. It's my first Blackberry and it has blew me away. I just love everything about this phone. Only thing I wish for is a better Blackberry syncing solution for macs than what's currently offered.
Tried both Missing Sync (trial) and Pocketmac and both have limitations. Pocketmac has been great at syncing with Address Book, iCal, Tasks and Sticky Notes, but won't recognize my microSD card for iTunes syncing. Missing Sync is $40 and has issues with Sticky Notes and iCal. I wish RIM would bring out a Desktop Manager for mac.
I handed in my Pearl for a new Bold this week. I really liked the Pearl and in particular the candy bar size. Initialy I was a bit hesitant to go the full qwerty layout and jump in size on the Bold. But I had nothing to worry about and after a few days I really am quite impressed with it.
The screen is just awesome - so crisp and clear and clearly much easier on the eyes for emails/docs compared with the Pearl. Sound from the (stereo?) speakers blew me a away for such a small device. The interface is really neat too. The icons are all movable and have options to use/create folders.
GPS is very quick with satelite pick in a matter of seconds. In Oz, we have WhereIs linked in with Garmin to give turn by turn, spoken navigation. All work flawlessly with my quick run to work the other day. Recalculation took about 10 seconds after taking an alternate route.
Word, Excel and PPT all come in ok, but much of the formatting gets stripped out - but at least you can now read them!
The only curious thing I noticed was that I filled the application memory on day 1! On top of the preinstalled stuff, I added the Whereis Navigation and Google Apps (gmail, maps) and the next thing I'm being told the memory is full and would I like to remove some languages (on-board memory and SD still both had nearly 1Gb free each).
Finally, if you like to talk in the car the Bold matched up beautifully with my BlueAnt SuperTooth3 hands free car kit. This is brilliant little device all on it's own. Imports the address book allowing for full speach dialling and annoucment of incomming calls.
Love tech!!
Screw the bold - the storm is coming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0i7a39BQpM
Two completely different phones on two completely carriers
Just got out of a meeting on new devices.
Bold: Oct 28th.
it's here in jamaica west indies
the problem is that they are dropping the 3G signal, and need to be tweaked
Same problem the iPhone suffers. What is the common thread between the iPhone and the Bold that dropping 3G signal would be a problem? That's right, the craptastic AT&T network. AT&Ts horrible 3G implementation = phone manufacturers have to tweak their software to make them work.
This isn't out in the US.... wow.
I have just got this in the UK and it is amazing!