This was sort of sketchy wasn’t it? RIM made the announcement that BlackBerry Bridge is available to AT&T customers but put a note about the requirement of a tethering plan in tiny letters at the bottom of their post. The note says:
**Note: AT&T users must have a tethering plan included with their wireless service plan to take advantage of the Bridge Browser. To enable tethering on your BlackBerry smartphone, go to att.com/mywireless or dial 611.
It’s this kind of behavior that makes your customers think you’re trying to pull a fast one on them. Sure, customers will figure it out anyways, but to write it in a note at the bottom in your post in tiny print is misleading and it insults your customers’ intelligence. The tethering plan costs an additional $20 per month and it would have been nice for RIM to come clean about this fairly huge issue and not try and treat it like it’s unimportant or try and hide it. Many are commenting on the announcement post, angry about the addition of a tethering plan, and RIM could have avoided this by simply addressing the issue and perhaps offering some form of compensation. It also speaks to the fact that perhaps RIM having its own blog isn’t such a good idea. RIM should also be more upfront about the tether issue because it apparently conflicts with what the CEO told cNET which is that the PlayBook will offer tethering for free.
