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There isn’t much to say here but the Curve 8520 is set to launch in Spain come September. There isn’t any word on what carriers it will launch on or whether it will come as a Pay-As-You-Go model, but we’ll keep you updated.
Expect a lot of news like this to come this month as RIM’s business development team sign deals with carriers around the world.
Simon picked up the story that RIM VP Jeff McDowell confirmed App World will be hitting France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, this month, with Brazil and India next on the list.
Congratulations to RIM legal for entering the French market, which is a relatively difficult market to enter. The US Commerical Service has echoed this sentiment, and it has portrayed the French market in a way that could be deemed isolationist.
“Enforcement of complex technical standards and lengthy testing procedures sometimes appears to exceed reasonable requirement levels needed to assure proper performance and safety, for example in the areas of electronics, telecommunications equipment, and agriculture phytosanitary standards.”
It takes several months for RIM legal to sort through the legal documents and conditions for App World to enter a new market. It took RIM legal 2 months to get App World to Britain and there are many European countries with more complicated and restrictive laws surrounding content distribution. So while getting App World around the world is a top priority, it could be a couple years before we see global penetration.
[Via]
After I wrote about the BlackBerry Bold in Japan overheating, I got a swarm of emails from people saying they’ve had similar overheating problems in their home country. Here are some examples:
From Spain (about Romania):
The first time I traveled to Romania with my new Bold it got VERY hot. Also the battery was consumed in 2 or 3 hours. I was permanently charging it and at the same time it was getting hotter and hotter. Although there was able a 3G network I changed the mode to 2G. Then, the overheating problem disappeared and the battery become useful for 1.5 days. My point is the device had some troubles to connect properly with the local network and was permanently looking for a better signal consuming extra battery and producing hot.
From Singapore:
I brought my bb bold a month ago & experience overheating yesterday. The battery just drain off and it felt very hot. I m staying in singapore. Is it a battery problem. I believe oem battery may be a problem instead of device.
From America about Indonesia:
I bought a Telstra bold in Indonesia, with firmware 4.6.0.144. I was having trouble with the radio losing signal even in high signal areas. I upgraded to firmware 4.6.0.190 and started to experience heading problems around the center of the unit and rapid battery depletion. I upgraded further to firmware 4.6.0.216 and the problem went away.
Thanks for all your emails!
If you have experienced overheating, comment with details about what happened and where you were at the time.
UPDATE: I just got another email, this one from Australia:
I am comms admin for an Australian business, we just upgraded some of our users to new blackberry bold’s and guess what? They are overheating like cakes and shutdown by it self and you can never switch them back on again till after a long time waiting.
Vodafone and Research In Motion today launched the BlackBerry Curve 8900 for Vodafone customers in Spain. The new BlackBerry Curve 8900 has an expansive feature set that keeps users easily connected with their office, friends and family. In addition to being an exceptional phone with email, messaging, organizer, web browser and multimedia applications, the new BlackBerry Curve 8900 features built-in Wi-Fi, GPS, a next generation processor (512 MHz) and a dazzling hi-resolution display, enabling customers to remain connected, productive and entertained while on the move.
Vodafone is selling the BlackBerry Curve 8900 for a flat rate of 18€ per month with BIS service. Those interested can head to Vodafone’s website or look at more BlackBerry Curve 8900 device specs after the jump.
Continue reading ‘Vodafone and RIM Launch the BlackBerry Curve 8900 in Spain’
The final destination in our BlackBerry launch trip around the world is lovely Spain. It is here that the Phone House has announced that it will be launching both the BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 later this month.
A quick search of www.phonehouse.es shows a 269 € price for the BlackBerry Bold but nothing yet for the Pearl Flip. To bide your time until launch, you can read our exhaustive BlackBerry Bold review with full device specs below.
The Ultimate BlackBerry Bold Review (with full device specs)
We’re almost at the point with these BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 releases that we might need to make a ‘FlipBerrys Around the World’ post. Telefonica announced today that it is bringing RIM’s first flip phone to Spain this fall. As such, there’s no word yet on pricing, but by way of comparison, Italian carrier TIM released the BlackBerry Pear Flip last week for 269€.
For our Spanish friends, more information on the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 can be found at http://es.blackberry.com/, or you can view the full device specs after the jump.
Add two new countries to the list of places that have BlackBerry Bold availability before RIM’s largest market. Telefonica, Spain’s largest carrier, has yet to release any pricing info, but has announced BlackBerry Bold availability for its subscribers. Our Spanish friends can heat to www.blackberrybold.es for more information or read our exhaustive review linked below.
Serbians have one up on the Spaniards, however, as Serbian carrier Vip announced the release of not only the BlackBerry Bold but the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 as well through the Vodafone Office product portfolio.
“We are delighted that as a result of our ongoing relationship, Vip are extending their Vodafone Office product range to include the latest BlackBerry smartphones,” said Paul-Gerhard Itjeshorst, Executive, Vodafone Partner Market. “Mobile email is an essential tool in today’s fast-paced business world and Vip are working hard to ensure their customers in Serbia can enjoy the full benefits of the complete BlackBerry solution.”
This is pretty great news for our Serbian friends, as the country has only had Blackberry service since December of 2007. Once again, no pricing information is available, but it will eventually turn up on Vip’s BlackBerry product site.
The Ultimate BlackBerry Bold Review (with full device specs)
For flip phone lovers who can’t get enough of the newly announced BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220, we have a variety of updates for you. First, our Spanish friends over at MiBlackBerry.com have found a new Pearl Flip colour in a RIM press release: Silver. No word yet on if we’ll be able to see this colour in North America, but it sure does look pretty. Hopefully those Rogers Pearl Flip parties will shed some light on the situation.
Second, BlackBerryNews.com is reporting that “internal documents” indicate the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 will also soon be released on O2 and T-Mobile Germany. Hopefully these releases will come with some new colors as well.
(via BBN, MiBlackBerry)
More BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 Silver Screenshots
Orange launched the pink Wi-Fi BlackBerry Pearl in Spain the other day, no doubt to the fanfare of many mujeres. Wi-Fi BlackBerrys might be old hat in Spain, considering they were the first to host them, but something tells me the novelty of coloured cases still hasn’t worn off. Pink has been a definite factor in pulling in the female demographic, but of course, it’s not all frivolous – the BlackBerry 8120 makes use of Orange’s UMA service, Único Empresas, for cheap calls over Wi-Fi. For more info, hit up Orange Spain.
Not to be left out, Spain will be getting the BlackBerry 9000 from Vodafone in July. We were counting on Vodafone providing the Bold for some time now, and at this point it’s just a matter of seeing which countries will be getting their kicks first. Pricetag is going to be around the €300 mark, and falls in line with other release dates we’ve been hearing.
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