The voice of the BlackBerry community.
Remember those rumours of an iDEN BlackBerry on Sprint? Well, they haven’t died. Due out late this year, the BlackBerry 8350 will be touting WiFi (b/g) and OS 4.6.1. For those who weren’t around for it, iDEN was an old network standard that did some good stuff with push-to-talk, but was largely replaced by the GSM standard. iDEN’s been slowly dying out since, but clearly there’s still some interest in push-to-talk on BlackBerry… Anyone out there still use it?
(via BlackBerry News)
A new report from ABI Research suggests that 2G technology like EDGE will drop to a 14% growth rate in 2008/09, compared to 22% from 2006/07, while UMTS networks like HSDPA slowly increase market share. Saying new technology will replace old technology is a bit like going on about just how wet water is, but it’s nice to know how long it will take. 2G subscribers are expected to start actively shrinking by 2013. iDEN and CDMAone users are already shrinking rapidly, perhaps explaining Sprint’s lackadaisical attitude towards upgrading their phones in that area, although CDMA2000 use is expected to stick around in more rural areas. All in all it sounds like good news for the HSDPA-packing 9000. The forecast for CDMA technologies could also help you in our Weekly Contest…
BlackBerrySync got the scoop on Sprint-Nextel CEO Dan Hesse’s speech at CTIA, where he said they’ll be replacing the iDEN-capable 7100i with a new BlackBerry equipped with iDEN and Wi-Fi. Though they’ve been on the ball with other BlackBerry releases, iDEN-capable phones have been pushed to the wayside. The 7100i was originally released way, way back in October of 2005. Push-To-Talk features — which is what iDEN does best — aren’t exactly deal-breakers to most people, I know, but two and a half years between releases seems a little excessive. There’s no word yet on what model they’ll be replacing it with, so we’ll have to wait on the details.
The voice of the BlackBerry community.
