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BlackBerry Name Games: New BlackBerry Tour 9650 to hit the Market as a BlackBerry Bold (9750? 9650? 97xx?)?!!

by Kevin Michaluk on 22 Feb 2010 03:30 PM
238
 

BlackBerry Tour 9650 now a BlackBerry Bold

OK. Here's the deal. Some rumors popped up on the net that the much-anticipated BlackBerry Tour 9650 (Tour2 as many refer to it as), which at the minimum ads WiFi and an optical trackpad to the original Tour 9630, is no longer going to be released as a Tour but rather as a BlackBerry Bold.

I held off wanting to post on this because, well, unless I can personally confirm or at least get a much better feeling of what's actually going down surrounding a rumor like this, I'd rather not perpetuate it. Especially in a case like this where first hearing about it seems a little crazy, considering the fact RIM recently announced the BlackBerry Tour 9650 on Facebook (albeit accidentally), and any changes now are happening relatively last minute and not as initially planned. So taking some extra time to get things sorted, I feel a lot more comfortable relaying this info now. As far we now know, this is the deal:

Is RIM Going to Release the Tour 9650 as a Bold now? Yup. As strange as it may sound to some and make a ton of sense to others, it definitely appears that this is what RIM intends to do. At this point the change of branding decision is still pretty fresh and I don't think every detail is yet set in stone, so when it comes to the actual device model number we're not quite certain. Calling it the BlackBerry Bold 9650 wouldn't make a lot of sense, as that would keep the Tour's 96xx numbers alive and further confuse things even though physically it looks more Tour-like in the body, so I think there's a better chance we'll now see this new device hit as a BlackBerry Bold 9750 or something along those lines with in the 97xx series of numbers (or maybe RIM will keep it uber simple and it'll just be the Bold 9700, now available to Verizon, Sprint et al).

Why is RIM going to do this? To keep people from getting pi$$ed off. Look, the Tour 9650 is what the original Tour should have been. The Storm2 got WiFi and the Curve 8520 got the optical trackpad. Had the Tour 9630 just been a little less behind in the development/rollout cycle it would have and should have hit the market with both of these new features. Anybody who reads the comments or forum posts to any Tour2 story that has surfaced in the past few months can see the reaction that original Tour 9630 owners have - they are NOT happy. Nor should they be. When the new Bold 97xx hits Verizon/Sprint, original Tour customers will still be ticked off despite the branding change, but this way there is now more distance from this issue for RIM and the carriers to fall back on (and no need for carriers to provide some sort of incentive to Tour1 owners to upgrade for less to a Tour2). The Tour name likely dies, it keeps RIM's brand lines from splitting equity and fragmenting too much, and as a further benefit there is no issue of the Tour2 being what the Tour1 should have been since it's now a different device and is the new Bold. It's a little sad and confusing, but also very logical at the same time.

So that's it. See ya later Tour, hullo CDMA Bold. As for release date, I was originally hoping/thinking we'd see the Tour2-gone-Bold get announced sometime between Mobile World Congress (ended last week) and CTIA (end of March/beg. April) but now I'm thinking it'll happen sometime between CTIA and WES (end of April). Either way, it's not too far around the corner, so I guess we'll know soon enough just how this plays out.

So what do you think of the name change? Like it? Love it? Sensible? Senseless? Sound off below in the comments!

Filed Under: News & Rumors; Tags: Bold 9650, Bold 9750, unreleased devices
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238 Comments

Posted by Yandar Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

God no! THREE BlackBerries Bolds on the market is just stupid.

 
 
Posted by Kevin Michaluk Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

oh, i'm sure there will be more Bolds than that one day... but hopefully they'll start using words instead of numbers to differentiate them.  Like Bold Touch, Bold Slider, etc.

 

 
 
Posted by scuebydue Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

Is this any different than having 3 curve models??

 
 
Posted by keith2k1 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

We all know Verizon has the best 3G coverage (smh) but 3 Bolds is plain dumb. Does this mean AT&T is going to get the Storm? What rae your thoughts????

 
 
Posted by Sam K Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

Look at how many Curves are on the market. Even if you group them together into 83xx series, 8900 and 85xx series then you still have 3.

 
 
Posted by ReaganDee Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

Do you REALLY care about there being 3 bolds?! I just want them to release the damn thing so I can get it... D@mn the name I say ... call it the Blackberry Blueberry ... I will be happy when it is released

 
 
Posted by LordCaesar Monday, Feb 22, 2010 719 days ago

well have they thought about how bold owners feel? I just bought my bold 9700 recently and now they're going to have a new version of my phone. Its just going to create more confusion and hatred from bold owners! The bold series shouldn't be mixed up with this, and this phone better not be better than the 9700. It would be better not to release it at all!

 
 
Posted by mgar88 Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010 719 days ago

Your comment offers no sound reason or logic whatsoever. Just because YOU purchased a Bold 9700, should RIM cease to make any phone "better than the 9700"? Your comment implies two ridiculous assertions. First, that the NAME of a device makes it better than another device, regardless of its features. And second, it sounds like you're saying that RIM should retard it's cell phone development to appease its current customers. How childish is that?
I would imagine you purchased your phone because you admire and enjoy its features, not because it was the latest and greatest from RIM.
I don't care what this phone is going to be called. It's going to bring the same features to the table regardless of its name.
/rant

 
 
Posted by pineypl Sunday, Mar 14, 2010 700 days ago

By your logic I should be upset because I have a "real" Bold, I have the 9000. The 9700 is not a Bold, it is a small/tiny form factor, and not nearly as "Bold" in design and look. /rant.

 
 
Posted by mahen915 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

Makes sense from a business point of view. Just sucks because now Tour owners have nothing to leverage any argument over. The Bold will "obviously" just be another, different, Blackberry in the lineup, and that's it.

 
 
Posted by djscoe Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

what they call it, I just want it out ASAP. My Storm 1 and it's "keyboard" doesn't do the job well enough anymore. I want a physical keyboard. The Wi-Fi and touchpad will be bonuses.

 
 
Posted by garment69 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

It would make perfect sense if they just released the exact same device as the 9700 in CDMA clothing. Not the subtle design differences that would exist if the updated the tour and added the trackpad. I actually think the 9700 is sharper looking anyway.

 
 
Posted by buckle.vzw Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

The 9700 is much more attractive than the prototype 9650. I hope they tweak the hardware to match, not that it has any bearing on functionality.

 
 
Posted by mjbesen310 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

I think its a good idea since Tour 2 and 9700 would be almost the same exact phone... good idea calling Tour 2 a Bold though... I like it

 
 
Posted by Ebscer Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

not much of a difference between the 9650 and the 9700 anyways. This limits RIM to 4 simple brands

Pearl - SureType
Storm - Touch Screen
Curve - low end
Bold - high end

The Tour was a funny name anyhow, and the line was never really more than a CDMA bold...

 
 
Posted by Juniior Thursday, Feb 25, 2010 717 days ago

you mean, cdma/gsm 3G world phone

 
 
Posted by s2by10 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

Makes sense for RIM to do that. Maybe they could change the appearance so it actually looked like the Bold 9700 (mainly the faux leather instead of the carbon fiber). Kinda makes me sad. I was hoping for a Bold the size of the 9000. Hopefully they make one because the 9700 and VzW Bold seem more Curve like.

 
 
Posted by NysFinest4Ever Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

Unless they some how plan on adding new features to this devices besides what we already knew was coming to the t2, then this is pretty much pointless. Consumers are not stupid, t1 users are still going to be pi$$ed off. This just seems to add to the narrative that RIM has lost their way..

 
 
Posted by Grafixx01 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

I know the marketing point behind it and I can agree to a certain point, as well as understand everything that Kevin has said in this post. However, due to the time difference and the fact that it looks EXACTLY like the Tour with the exception of the trackpad, I'm sure that people are still going to flip on VZW to get something for it and VZW will eventually do something for them.

Here's the question I pose for this post. Why would you say that you need to rename it so that people aren't mad and / or so you don't have to give them a deal? Why didn't you do the same thing for the Storm2? Rename it to something else and you wouldn't have to do anything then either?

**Its not against you Kevin, just at the logic by Rim and VZW**

 
 
Posted by Kevin Michaluk Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

great comment.

Maybe it's more an opportunity to re-name the device than a need to re-name the device. RIM has shown that they are building out brand lines, as they have done with the Curve, Pearl and Bold already. I think they went with Storm2 as maybe they decided already that they intend to make Storm their full-touch line into the future. With the Tour, there's only one device on the market and it's CDMA, which will be going away with LTE, so doing the name change now gives RIM the chance to kill off the Tour line.... one less brand line to release future devices under. A little consolidation. At the same time, there's the side benefits discussed in this post. 

I think that would be fine to have done from day one to do on the 9650, but it seems like this is more reactionary than proactive, which is why I lean a bit more to the angle I take in this post. 

 
 
Posted by Barredbard Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

The two instances are dissimilar, and virtually incapable of comparison. The Storm 1 was a venture into new territory by RIM. They had never fielded a touch-screen device before, and it seems clear that it was targeted to undercut the iPhone's growing popularity while retaining Blackberry's unique OS. That it had so many issues was testament to the fact that RIM had not really perfected their grasp of what it takes to marry their OS to such a device. Storm 2 was ushered into the market more than a year later, and is an improvement over the previous Storm, as one might expect.

Now, compare that with the Tour. The first Blackberry to - if I remember correctly - feature wireless was the Bold 9000. Subsequently, the Curve 8900 was released with wireless as well. Blackberry owners were delighted, because there was an implied understanding that all flagship devices from then on would feature wireless. By then, news was abound that the Tour was coming out. By this time, with the 8900 as the flagship device for T-mobile, and the Bold ostensibly the flagship device for At&t, it was shocking that RIM failed to include wireless in the impending flagship device for Verizon (arguably with the most customers) and Sprint. It was a deliberate, calculated move, whereas any mistakes with the Storm was inadvertent. In fact, for some time, in the Tour threads, there was a rumor generating that Tour 1 already had wireless abilities, but was just deprived of the software to run it. That goes far to show you how surprised some Tour owners were that their shiny new device lacked wireless.

So, if Tour owners are bitter, they have more of a right than Storm owners. With the Storm, RIM made a mistake. With the Tour, RIM made an omission. The absence of a trackpad doesn't bother Tour owners so much, because that was definitely new technology that may not have been out before the Tour was conceived. The same cannot be said for wireless, which had not only been out when the Tour was released, but was actually an old feature, both in the mobile industry and with RIM. Then, look at the time factor. The Tour had scarcely hit the shelves before it was well known that there would be a 'Tour 2' in the works featuring the wireless that the Tour was deprived of. With the Storm, it took a while to develop a phone to correct the deficiencies of the first Storm. With the Tour, RIM merely slapped on wireless which was already out and named it Tour 2 or Bold 9650, as the case may be. It is this proximity in time that Tour owners are mad about. Of course, the fact that so many Tours came with defect trackballs and an equally defective OS in the first instance doesn't exactly endear RIM to Tour owners. Just a thought. Or several.

 
 
Posted by alb123 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

"The first Blackberry to - if I remember correctly - feature wireless was the Bold 9000. Subsequently, the Curve 8900 was released with wireless as well. Blackberry owners were delighted, because there was an implied understanding that all flagship devices from then on would feature wireless."

I am going to assume you mean wifi when you say "wireless".

You obviously are not aware that the Curve 83xx product line had wifi available - just not on the CDMA carriers...

 
 
Posted by Barredbard Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

If you absolutely have to be technical, WI-FI stands for 'Wireless Fidelity,' which is the name given to wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections. As a result, people have come to loosely label the wireless technology 'wireless.' Certainly no one has any difficulty understanding what is meant when one asks if a certain device has 'wireless' capabilities. Not only is it not incorrect, it is prevalent lingo. Case in point, you understood what I was alluding to perfectly. One more point: 'Wireless' is actually more indicative of the feature being described than WI-FI which was a juvenile rip-off of HI-FI.

As for the 8XXX series, I am well aware of them, but since they are hardly flagship devices, they are not pertinent to my analysis. Nor were they among the first Blackberry devices to be manufactured with the wireless feature, which is the point of my earlier writing. I am at a loss to understand why and how you managed to ignore the content of my message to quibble with technical definitions, about which you are wrong, and also attempt to give me a history lesson, about which you are wrong as well. If I were to be crude, I would be asking: 'what the heck?' None of your criticisms are pertinent to my analysis, even if they were credible, and they're not. Thanks for the contribution. I guess.

 
 
Posted by stoneworrior Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

Blue tooth is "wireless", CDMA is "wireless", GSM is "wireless, WIFI is "wireless" thus when a device has three separate radios running one would think you would specify exactly which "wireless" device you are referring to. If someone asks you "what car are driving" you do not point to a parking lot full of cars and say the car in the parking lot do you? Or maybe you do, that would explain a lot.

 
 
Posted by Barredbard Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

Blue tooth is 'wireless' GSM is 'wireless' and CDMA is 'wireless'? Oh my. This defies logic. Sure, they all operate without wires. But please refer to the definition of WI-FI above. If you call Blue tooth 'wireless,' you are quite a unique individual. I've never met anyone who does. Neither have you. By your expansive definition, ultra-violet rays are wireless, as is microwave and infra red. Heck, even my spray-on deodorant is wireless as well, since there are no wires attached. That will suffice.

 
 
Posted by Skeevecr Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010 719 days ago

Well what do you actually mean by wireless in regards to the 9000 and then the 8900 as it certainly isn't clear from your initial post nor the subsequent ones and it seemed to me as well that you had mistakenly thought that wifi was new to those models.

 
 
Posted by BashBerry15 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

"That goes far to show you how surprised some Tour owners were that their shiny new device lacked wireless."

If one were a smart consumer, he or she would have been well aware of the capabilities (and shortcomings) of a $500 device before purchasing it. It was never advertised to have wi-fi, so it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone when they bought it. You make it sound like they purchased it and were stunned to find it without wi-fi.

As far as your "analysis," a pertinent counterpoint to your argument is that there was, and still is, nothing wrong with the original Tour; there is nothing to make it difficult to use or perform simple functions like typing or opening apps (things that proved to be quite challenging on an early Storm due to faulty screen clicks and buggy, laggy OS). Your argument that RIM should be exempt from the epic failure that was the Storm simply because it was a "mistake" holds little weight, because they sold millions of phones that did not work as advertised. Your argument that Tour owners have more of a right to be upset holds even less weight, because the phone worked as advertised (and it wasn't advertised with wi-fi), and worked well - a few faulty trackballs are nothing compared to the slew of Storm problems. Consumers knew what they were getting, and have little basis for whining that a better model with wi-fi was announced less than a year later. That's the world of technology; something better will always be right around the corner.

 
 
Posted by Barredbard Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

I went to great pains to explain that since all the high-end Blackberrys had that feature, Tour owners were surprised by the fact that the device lacked the wireless feature. That remains true. Sure, no one was compelled to buy the phone. It used to be that Henry Ford would tell prospective car buyers that they could have any car color they wanted as long as it was black. People bought them anyways, because that was all that was available. Granted, there were far fewer metrosexual males at the time, but it is conceivable that a customer or 2 wanted an electric-blue car. Well, for anyone looking for the flagship device on a CDMA carrier, there was no other phone but the Tour. I read about the impending release of the Tour 2 35 days after I purchased mine. Storm owners did not have to deal with the knowledge that their device was deliberately made inferior, to be supplanted on release date by another device incorporating the one feature that they all craved.

Your 'counterpoint,' fails, as you are so fond of positing, because the Storm did work as advertised, even if not perfectly. The Tour's OS was every bit as bad as the Storm's upon release. I personally bricked my phone 11 times doing routine stuff, and was forcefully transformed from a happy novice to a none-too-happy Blackberry expert from having to fix my nuked phone so many times. Only with the advent of OS 5.0 has the Tour seemed less rife with horrendous systemic issues. RIM did not breach its warranty of merchantibility/fitness for a particular purpose by shipping the Storm, anymore than it did with the Tour.

 
 
Posted by hoonaynay Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

While I don't have the time right now to think up of a more thorough and lengthy response, I have to agree with you Barredbard. I pushed my upgrade eligibility date up by two months just to be one of the first to get the 9630, and to not only read about the 9650, but to see actual photos of it circulating the internet only a few weeks later really infuriated me.
Why rush out an unfinished product (I say unfinished because each Verizon Wireless location I visited had throngs of Tour owners unhappy with their trackballs. I'm on my third 9630, and this trackball is even worse) when you clearly had a newer iteration of it in the works?
And I (and we all know how important my opinion is to RIM) vehemently oppose the thinking behind renaming the device. If the company is really trying to distance themselves from the Tour name to ensure that they won't have to compensate customers, I'll take that as a kick to the gut and switch to another smartphone. Sure, one lost customer won't make much of a difference to their revenue stream, but to be toyed with to this extent is purely absurd.

 
 
Posted by BashBerry15 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

My counterpoint does not fail, because the Storm did not work as advertised. It could not even answer calls correctly in the first OS's because it was so buggy. The Tour was not anywhere near as bad as the Storm (comparing both in their release state). Fortunately, both devices are drastically improved with OS 5.0, and so quibbling over which is worse is not really relevant.

I can understand your frustration over the Tour not having Wi-Fi, and I certainly agree that it must have been unnerving to hear about a Tour 2 w/ wi-fi only months after. But, as you so eloquently put, "for anyone looking for the flagship device on a CDMA carrier, there was no other phone but the Tour." So, while it is tough luck that you yourself bought a phone without "the one feature you craved," I can hardly believe RIM forced you to do so. If you needed wi-fi so badly, why did you buy the Tour without it? It just seems pretentious to blame RIM for you missing out on wi-fi, especially when the Tour 2 (or Bold, I suppose) isn't even out yet. You still have the best possible option.

 
 
Posted by chevalia Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

Barredbard...you are my hero (non Android of course)

 
 
Posted by The Fuzz 53 Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010 719 days ago

When I bought the device, I purely blamed Verizon for the lack of Wi-Fi. They have never sold a device that included it and figured they never would. I didn't think they would chance their minds within a few months. I am not mad at RIM for this, I blame Verizon and their short sightedness. They must have known they were going to allow Wi-fi into their lineup, but chose to just go ahead and release the Tour, knowing they were screwing anybody that bought it.

 
 
Posted by Schaeffer Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

Smart move rim.. very smart move, except for all the poor tour owners out there that don't have any incentives.. but then again, there were no incentive from storm to storm2.. atleast not that I was aware of.

 
 
Posted by sj-performance Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

im a sprint tour 1 original owner since day 1. i wouldnt mind getting a 9700 cdma sprint. the 9700 so sexy and awesome. i envy my friends who have it on tmo/att. and i think the "bold" sounds more appealing than "tour" dont get me wrong i love my tour...but i prefer a bold =]

 
 
Posted by grimball Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010 719 days ago

Please define "sexy" as it applied to a phone? Is it the vibrating ringer?

 
 
Posted by mattreber Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

...that it wouldn't be called Bold? I don't like conflicting stories between Kevin and Sal! Either way, it needs to be released soon.

Kevin, are you going to change the name in the "upcoming/rumored devices section? I feel like that will make it more official!

 
 
Posted by tlemense Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

Could this mean that there won't be world capabilities on this phone? I always thought that was the biggest distinction between bold and tour lines. Same when it was the 8830 and 8330 on the flagship.

 
 
Posted by LionOfJudah80 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

It shouldn't mean it's not going to be a world phone. The Bold's are world phones to my knowledge - as all Bold's that you presently find are all GSM carriers - which is the service type you find in other parts of the world. I can't ever remember seeing a GSM World Phone at all...

 
 
Posted by the brother Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010 719 days ago

what about the 8800? http://www.mobilewhack.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/blackberry-8800.jp...

 
 
Posted by saukrateaz Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

RIM should stop concentrating so hard on the names of all these devices they are putting out and start to put a little more time into actually advancing their technology. iPhone and Droid are chumping Blackberry devices off all over the place. I left iPhone to come back to Blackberry to be disapointed. I've had the Tour, the 8900 and the bold 9000...highly disapointed. The new "bold" or "tour2" wont be any different than whats out now.

 
 
Posted by tater0388 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

If this does pan out it will most likely be the Bold 9730. IF you look in to the past when the 8300 was released then came the 8330 CDMA. So IMO I would say Bold 9730

 
 
Posted by Kevin Michaluk Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

yeah, 9730 might be better than 9750. i was thinking along the 9750 lines from the 9530 to 9550... but if they want to break free and go bold, then 9730 makes total sense.

 
 
Posted by buckle.vzw Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010 719 days ago

Unless the form factor is different.

 
 
Posted by six4seven Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

This is retarded. RIM is retarded.

I am a blackberry loyalist, but RIM has done so many stupid things over the years and I'm quite fed-up with them and their antics.

 
 
Posted by mahen915 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

It's not all RIM's fault. They bend a lot to carrier's will. That is why Apple and Android are gaining market share fast. It sucks that they slightly upgrade the same device and release it less than a year later.

They need to create a very decently spec'd phone and then focus on bringing services to the platform that can still generate revenue, not release the same phone every 6-8 months with slightly upped specs. :(

 
 
Posted by juttin3 Monday, Feb 22, 2010 719 days ago

completely agree. make solid/durable phone with all the current up to date options and sell us that. stop changing one thing and calling it a new phone. i am staying with blackberry for now but there company is letting me down.

 
 
Posted by Skeevecr Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010 719 days ago

Typically a particular device/form factor gets upgraded every year, which is no different from the iphone that also takes the dripfeed new features approach too because like it or not these companies make more money this way.

Personally, I think the original Tour was slightly delayed and this one they are trying to get out a bit quicker and thats the only reason the upgrade has dropped from the usual 12 months.

 
 
Posted by strods Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

it has to be a world phone if not its going to be another FAIL for RIM!!!
I have the tour because of that so that I can use VZW when I travel to the sates and not having to switch phones every couple of weeks.

So if its tour2 bold3 or what ever name it gives it... has to have the same options that the tour offers now!

 
 
Posted by electro_sound Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

are you kidding?
are not all phones 'world phones'??? what the hell you say tour means 'world phones'??

bold 9000 is not?
curve is not?
storm is only usa

please explain me.

d

 
 
Posted by CapnCrunchBerry Monday, Feb 22, 2010 720 days ago

When you travel overseas or out of the US period, you can use a sim card to roam on foreign networks. NO the bold, curve, and storm are NOT world phones. The 8830 was. The 9630 is. Get it?

 
 
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