In a welcome first for domestic airlines, JetBlue will be rolling out free in-flight Yahoo IM and email services to passengers packing WiFi-equipped devices, starting aboard its new "BetaBlue" Airbus A320. Once this test-bed passenger jet reaches 10,000 feet, an in-plane network with three in-ceiling access points is activated, allowing most any wireless gadget with a Flash-enabled browser to view specialized versions of either Yahoo Messenger or Mail through a universal landing page. What's more, owners of certain BlackBerry handsets like the 8820 or Curve 8320 can keep feeding their addictions non-stop thanks to an agreement between JetBlue and RIM.

Bandwidth for these services is provided by LiveTV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the carrier that provides the entire fleet with select DirecTV and XM radio channels, and which also happens to possess a valuable 1MHz slice of ground-to-air spectrum that it's deploying for this very purpose (with the help of some 100 existing cell towers around the country). If all goes well in what is admittedly a beta test, more aircraft will receive the WiFi makeover, and more features -- such as access to terabytes of locally-stored multimedia content -- will be rolled out, along with additional service providers besides Yahoo. Just don't expect an open pipe any time soon: that sweet little slice of spectrum is not nearly robust enough to handle the heavy Slinging, VoIPing, and Torrenting you all would obviously be doing.

RIM just got real nasty on everyone with its latest announcement, namely, that the WiFi equipped, integrated-GPS-havin' BlackBerry 8820 has just gotten the proper release treatment, stating that the device will be heading to retailers in the "coming weeks," and is slated to land on AT&T later this summer, making a ton of American businessmen very, very happy. The GSM world phone, which we got to manhandle back in May, features 802.11a/b/g, EDGE data (no 3G boys?), UMA (allowing the phone to seamlessly switch between cellular and WiFi networks without dropping calls), and a microSD / SDHC slot which can support cards up 32GB, which is quite a lot of gigabytes. It wouldn't be surprising to see this pop up over at T-Mobile, considering its WiFi love, which AT&T still has yet to embrace (though Mr. Jobs claims it's coming). Other specs stick pretty close to the RIM playbook, which isn't going to ruffle any feathers probably. Stay tuned for exact release dates and other appetite-whetting information as it becomes available.

Photos of a purportedly unannounced Blackberry codenamed "Daytona" are making the rounds in Spain this morning. This new RIM device clearly marked "evaluation unit" on the back is said to sport a 2 megapixel camera with LED flash, GPS, and that glorious WiFi we're all missing on the 8800. Spanish site Xataka speculates that this media savvy device will carry an 8300 model number when it hits at the start of summer. Perhaps, but we're still wondering when we'll see the notorious 8820.

Update: A video has been posted by the Mentesdigitales site. Check that and more pictures after the break.

A feature notoriously missing from RIM's range, WiFi is one add-on we can pretty much all agree would make the average BlackBerry user's life noticeably better. We'd heard rumblings ahead of the 8800's release that Canada's newest handset would sport some manner of 802.11 out of the box, but alas -- the release came and went with no 2.4GHz (or 5GHz, for that matter) goodness in sight, allegedly due to technical glitches on RIM's side that the company was unwilling to delay the initial model for. No worries, though -- well, maybe a few worries if you're AT&T and you're trying to push the 8800 out the door -- the WiFi-enabled 8820 looks pretty official now thanks to a cameo in RIM's latest BlackBerry OS offering. Other changes should be minimal from its predecessor; a camera still isn't in the cards, leaving shutterbugs who like their BlackBerry served QWERTY style up the same creek they are now. No word on a release, but rumblings have the device launching mid-year.