Posted on March 18, 2009, at 3:12 pm .
Rogers has been experiencing a $30 million budget shortfall and at the same time, Rogers recently enacted a price hike on the three-year contract prices for some of its most popular BlackBerry devices. The price increases saw the Curve 83xx go to $149.99 (up $50), Curve 8900 to $224.99 (up $25) and the Bold go to $299.99 (up $50). The following email from a Rogers exec, details the budget shortcomings:
On Wednesday, the senior executive team realized that they were over budget $30 million dollars on their cost of acquisition. How I don’t know why it took so long. [sic] They then did their knee jerk response. Your DBM’s and other local managers know nothing more than this and are in the dark as much as we are on this other than we were told VERBALLY that in market quotes would be honored for 30 days from today. The exception lists are due Monday and only for non named accounts. I have requested in every region for a positioning statement and to this moment have not heard a response. If it makes you feel any better the retail has even more uncertainty.
Is this a case of budget shortfalls being passed down to the consumer?
[Via]
Posted on August 7, 2008, at 7:52 am .
Telus is offering two BlackBerry 8330s for the price of one ($149.99 on a three year plan), and all you have to do is sign up for a share plan and e-mail. Colour swaps and price cuts are a few ways for CDMA carriers to pre-empt the BlackBerry Bold coming up for GSM competitors, and a two-for-one sale could equally sway anyone on the lookout for a BlackBerry in the near future. Any Canadian couples out there looking to take the BlackBerry plunge together should swing by their local Telus store to check it out, or take a look at the Telus online store.
(via BlackBerrySync)
Posted on August 5, 2008, at 11:39 am .
This week Verizon took a machete to their BlackBerry prices, knocking the BlackBerry Curve down to $99.99, the BlackBerry Pearl to $79.99, and the BlackBerry World Edition to $149.99, all on two-year plans and with online rebate. Of course all CDMA carriers are feeling a bit of a sting these days what with the BlackBerry Bold launching on GSM networks worldwide any day now. Cheap devices aren’t the only way they’re hunkering down until the BlackBerry 9000 someday makes the CDMA switch – word has it Bell will be rocking a few new colours of Curve and Pearl, in a similar attempt to keep pace with GSM. Of course, Verizon will have the BlackBerry Thunder in good time, which could present some competition if it’s not hitting up AT&T…
(Verizon via cellular-news)
Posted on July 11, 2008, at 10:30 am .
$199 for the BlackBerry 9000. Yet another reason to compare it to the iPhone 3G.
After swinging by our local Rogers shop to gawk at all the iPhone 3G fanboys and have a bit of a run at the demo unit myself, one of the reps mentioned that the BlackBerry Bold would be priced identically to the iPhone. $199 for the BlackBerry 9000 sounds reasonable, and would put it on fairly even footing with the iPhone, it’s just too bad that it won’t be quite as cheap as T-Mobile Germany’s Bold. Regardless, the hype for the iPhone 3G is going to be hard to beat.
Posted on July 8, 2008, at 8:47 am .
According to the latest RBC Capital Markets report, 56% of consumers looking to pick up a smartphone in the next three months having the iPhone 3G at the top of their list, with the BlackBerry Bold following up at 23%. Ouch. So does this mean the iPhone’s features are wowing buyers? Not quite. The biggest factor influencing these decisions is the announced price cut of $199 on the 8 GB model and $299 for the 16 GB iPhone 3G. The extra speed from 3G was a close second point of interest, while GPS was the third most important factor. It’s bizzarre, considering the BlackBerry 9000 will be covering all of these bases, too – T-Mobile Germany’s price point for the Bold has been revealed, putting it in the same ballpark as the iPhone. Maybe if we had clearer information on BlackBerry Bold pricing, folks would be more inclined to consider it a competitor to the iPhone…
Posted on July 4, 2008, at 11:06 am .
While Rogers and AT&T dates for BlackBerry 9000 launches have been ball-parked to late summer, we’ve heard little from the other side of the pond until now. T-Mobile’s German site is showing off the Bold due in “Juli”, and carrying a €550 ($US 860) pricetag without contract and as low as €90 ($US 140) with an agreement, which should give us a good idea of how much we can expect to dish out when the thing lands up here. Pretty affordable with the plan, and with rumours of the Kickstart’s pricetag, it looks like we’re looking at some competitive prices all around for the next batch of devices.
(via BBNews)
Posted on May 5, 2008, at 7:56 am .
Some concepts of a BlackBerry modeled after the 9000 dubbed “Niagara” have surfaced, supposedly minus 3G capabilities. The form factor is a little off from the BlackBerry 9000 shots we’ve already seen, so it’s possible this new model will be the next iteration in the 9000 line. The 9100 is already looking like it won’t be packing 3G, pointing to an ongoing trend of stripping features for the sake of battery life. Cutting features has the added benefit of lowering costs, which could do the rumored pricetag of $800 a considerable favour.
UPDATE: Our main man Boy Genius has taken the time to quell the confusion surrounding his report of a 3G-lacking BlackBerry 9000. Apparently, there are two different codenames swirling over at RIM HQ: the Javelin and the Niagara. BG is reporting that the Niagara is actually an EV-DO BlackBerry coming to Verizon in May of 2009. The Javelin is the previously mentioned 3G-less BlackBerry 9000. Everyone got that? Good. BG was also able to scrounge up (unconfirmed) specs for both devices, so check those out after the jump.
Click here to view specs on the BlackBerry Niagara and Javelin
