We’re still holding our breath for an announcement from Rogers today, but rumour has it that the BlackBerry Bold will be out in Canada on August 12th., putting us right on time with the AT&T delay. T-Mobile Germany had also changed their release date from July to August, so it looks like this is a widespread deal. I still think that that the recent OS 4.6 Desktop Manager and Java Desktop Environment are an indication that the Bold would not have been ready for the end of the month. Still worth the wait, no?
OS 4.6 software is getting fast-tracked in order to prepare for the imminent BlackBerry Bold launch, now with the updated Desktop Manager available from Vodafone Germany. With the 4.6 BlackBerry Java Desktop Environment released just yesterday, it’s hard not to think that some of the issues delaying the launch of the BlackBerry 9000 are getting resolved. If the OS is solid enough that the JDE and Desktop Manager can be offered publicly, I think we can look out for a release real soon. T-Mobile Germany was one of the first to throw out some pricing, and Vodafone had one of the earliest sources of Bold pictures, so at very least Germans have good reason to get excited. If software’s not enough of an indicator, there’s also a batch of presale German BlackBerry Bolds to be shipped August 6th to get your hopes up…
Supposedly the BlackBerry/iTunes syncing utility that was making the rounds last month is ready for primetime, and could be popping up for public download from www.blackberry.com/mediasync at some point today. iTunes support certainly makes BlackBerrys more viable as your number one media player – combined with increasing size of memory cards and high quality stereo Bluetooth headsets, it’s hard to go wrong. If you didn’t have time to nab MediaSync when it was available briefly, today could be your big chance, so keep your eyes peeled.
As we draw nearer to the rumoured release date of the BlackBerry 9000 in Canada, it turns out we might just be seeing an announcement this Friday. The device proper might not be showing up until as early as the following weekend (August 1st.), or as late as September. It’s all pretty much up in the air at this point, but we would expect nothing less from Rogers. AT&T was supposedly getting the Bold a bit later in August, so it would make sense if Rogers followed suit. I guess we’ll just have to wait until Friday to see what’s up.
Our few Chilean readers will be happy to hear that Movistar and Claro both have the BlackBerry Bold on the way sometime in August. There’s no word on pricing for the BlackBerry 9000, but right now the best guesses are hovering around the $US 300 mark. We’re still holding out breath for a BlackBerry 9000 release up here in Canada, but only time will tell if Chile and the rest of the world end up getting it before us.
Nipping at the heels of the Canadian release on the 25th., Australian carriers Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and 3 Mobile will be offering the BlackBerry 9000 as of July 29th. RIM execs have gone so far to say that Australian BlackBerry growth will nearly double, which will undoubtedly be helped out by a speedy BlackBerry Bold release.
The latest rumours of a BlackBerry Thunder release date are pointing to mid-October on Verizon, no doubt to the fanfare of many. Both the iPhone 3G and HTC Touch Diamond have been setting a high bar for touchscreen devices, and no doubt RIM wants the BlackBerry Thunder out there ASAP so competitors don’t get too much of a head start. The Thunder is supposedly taking precedent over final touches on the BlackBerry Bold, now due out in September due to extraneous software tweaking. The little slip-up yesterday certainly whet our palette for the touchscreen BlackBerry, but that’s some bum news about the Bold. Hopefully the Canadian release is unaffected…
In their latest newsletter, Zumobi announced that they’re putting the “finishing touches” on the BlackBerry version of their software. If you head over to their home page you can sign up to be informed the minute it’s released. They’ve also made a couple of additions to their Tiles gallery, from notables CMT and Comedy Central. The CMT Tile delivers up-to-date news in the country music world, while Comedy Central offers up a new Joke of the Day Tile.
A release schedule from electronics wholesaler Brightpoint has been leaked by Pinstack’s The Outsider revealing an April 16 release date for the CDMA Curve, with other channels getting it after April 20th. All the usual doodads, like 2.0 megapixel camera and GPS will be in there (sorry, no Wi-Fi), will be in there, and the new BlackBerry will be sporting a titanium paint job, with a red one in the works. Pricing is landing around $599.99 SRP, and we’ve got an idea of potential pricing with plans.
OS 4.6 software is getting fast-tracked in order to prepare for the imminent BlackBerry Bold launch, now with the updated 
In their 
A release schedule from electronics wholesaler Brightpoint has been 
