The voice of the BlackBerry community.
Vodafone UK has upped the ante on the ‘carriers publishing sign-up pages for unannounced BlackBerrys’ war by offering a free BlackBerry Storm 9500 for those who sign up for more information. There’s no more information on Vodafone’s site about the BlackBerry Storm, but we can tell you that if you win, you’re one unlock code away from being a very happy Rogers/T-Mobile/AT&T subscriber.
Vodafone BlackBerry Storm Site
(via BGR)
Oh jeez, all those Rogers BlackBerry Bold early adopters just got RickRolled iPhone’d. No more than 6 weeks after initial launch, Rogers will be dropping the price of the BlackBerry Bold from $399.99 on a three-year contract to $299.99 on a three-year contract.
While it’s hard to look a cheaper Bold in the mouth (especially with the reduced Rogers data plans coming the same day), I know there are a lot of Rogers BlackBerry users asking ‘why now?’ Are BlackBerry Bolds not selling as briskly as Rogers would like. Does this have something to do with the ‘hero campaigns’ Jim Balsillie mentioned during RIM’s investors conference call?
Maybe the most important question: if enough Rogers subscribers complain, will they get a refund? Post a comment and let us know what you think.
Another day, another bundle of BlackBerry Storm 9530 news. Today, we have screenshots of a BlackBerry Storm dummy phone, taken at a Verizon Wireless store. Apparently these dummy devices were sent out to Verizon dealerships over a week ago. CrackBerry Forums user BBerry, who snapped the pics, said that the device was quite heavy, but that the haptic touchscreen seemed to work fairly well, being much easier to push in than he expected. You can see the rest of BBerry’s photos after the jump.
Meanwhile, for those above the 49th parallel, Engadget Mobile is reporting that Bell and Telus are still in a heated bidding war over who will get BlackBerry Storm 9530 exclusivity in Canada. While we had told you last week that Bell had ripped exclusivity out of Telus’ hands with a large bundle of cash, it appears as though Telus has responded with a similar bundle, and RIM has as of yet been unable to choose to dance with the one they brought or the one by the punch bowl. Either way, they’re walking away with a nice cash grab for their first touchscreen BlackBerry.
(via CB Forums, Engadget Mobile)
Regular readers of BlackBerry Cool will know that we’re big fans of the OtterBox BlackBerry cases. Today is a great day for OtterBox users who have already moved on to the BlackBerry Bold: OtterBox has now officially released BlackBerry Bold Defender Series cases! Expect our full review to come soon, but if they’re anything like previous OtterBox cases, they’ll be well worth the $50 pricetag.
More encouraging news for AT&T subscribers today. In addition to the October 26th Best Buy launch date, AT&T has now posted a registration page for six different BlackBerry Bold launch parties, running from October 15th to the 30th.
So take heart, AT&T subscribers. It looks like you should have your BlackBerry Bold before halloween!
Gary Krakow, Senior Technology Correspondent for TheStreet.com is a man on a mission. In love with his BlackBerry 8820, which he has used for six months, Krakow is steaming mad that his BlackBerry’s scrollball no longer works. Interviewing his own IT people, Krakow discovers that the majority of the BlackBerrys used at TheStreet.com last about a month before having to be sent back for repairs. Stating that this is a “wake up call for the entire industry” (uh, Gary, how many other smartphone manufacturers do you know that use scroll balls?), Krakow demands that RIM offer the ability to remove and clean the BlackBerry scrollball similar to the old PC mice used in the mid-nineties.
My first thought upon watching this video was, “gee, the people at TheStreet have really dirty hands.” While BBCool HQ has run across the occasional sticky scrollball, our problems are nothing like those of Mr. Krakow and friends. To be fair, BlackBerry support document really doesn’t offer any significant advice on how to deal with the problem, but Gary, there’s a huge difference between the functionality of a $20 mouse and an $800 smartphone! So here’s a protip from us to you: gently wet your thumb before rolling the scrollball. Any unwanted dirt will stick to the moisture on the ball, making it much easier to remove.
To all our IT friends out there, I pose a question: does your company face a similar problem with BlackBerry scrollballs? Inquiring minds want to know.
Wireless enterprise solutions provider Onset Technology announced today the launch of METAmessage Advanced Compliance Tool (ACT). METAmessage ACT allows organizations to scan, block and archive wireless email from business and personal accounts, SMS, BlackBerry PIN-to-PIN and instant messaging communications for compliance and data loss prevention. METAmessage ACT will be available with all major U.S. wireless carriers, and Verizon Wireless is supporting the METAmessage ACT launch with an enterprise advertising campaign.
Remember the Rogers BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 party invitations we told you about? Well, it turns out one of those parties was last week, and old friend of the site RogersDude69 was there to snap some pictures.
Apparently the event was fairly low key, with a lot of Rogers BlackBerry experts going around quizzing attendees about their BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 knowledge for a chance to win the device. However, judging from the pics, Rogers really likes ‘urban’ dancers and people jumping around on bicycles, which is kinda cool.
The state of the United States economy is such that there seems to be no sector that can avoid the chain of falling dominoes. Partially in reaction to the U.S. House of Representatives failing to pass the proposed $700 billion dollar bailout bill, the NASDAQ dropped 200 points yesterday, around 9% of its total value.
While RIM continued its downward slide, losing approx. 11% of its total value to close at $61.50/share, it was hardly the only technology company in our sphere to get hit. Apple dropped 17.4%, while Google and Adobe dropped around 11%.
For the employees and families of all those companies involved, we hope something can jumpstart the U.S. economy before things get worse. Check out our current Weekly Contest and let us know if you think RIM will be okay.
(via WSJ)
The FCC is currently voting on what to do about the D-Block, the 700Mhz chunk of the wireless public safety spectrum which had previously been up for auction despite Verizon’s litigious attempts to block it. However, many commercial bidders fear that the auction plan as structured is not commercially viable, while public safety groups and a few members of Congress feel that the spectrum would be more effectively split into regional licenses rather than a national one.
Ars Technica has a wonderful summary of the entire situation, which can be found here.
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