The Hunt for Red Rogers BlackBerry Bolds

Friday, August 22nd Update:
- Should be available in most stores today! Can be ordered online or over the phone. Read on for a whole mess of info and comments. Be sure to let us know if/when/where you got one!
- Wow. It was dicey, but I GOT A BOLD. Seems most stores got very limited numbers with this first shipment. 2 units for most, our local flagship had 6. Really pathetic. Pretty much all of them sold out instantly. Some people got lucky, some didn't. In a few cases the Bolds that did come in got snatched by employees immediately. But I'm just happy to have landed one. And more should be coming daily now. Lots of stuff to come!

Updates:
- Bold now showing up on Rogers' business website >>
- Rogers has changed the BOLD section of their site. Go to Rogers.com/bold >>
- 8:44est - Wow...just called into the 1-866-647-2371 number listed on the Rogers website. Talk about not knowing what's going on.  First guy told me $624 to upgrade to it on a 2 year contract (I said that seemed a "little high") so he forwarded me through to a nice lady in Customer Retention. She spent 20 minutes trying to pull info up, and said she had nothing other than the tech specs. Since it wasn't in "stock", she had no data, so couldn't do anything for me as of yet and had no clue as to pricing, availability, etc. Nice Rogers. Nice.
- Be sure to view the comments - some people are having success it seems.
- Check out THIS IMAGE from the Bold's Product Listing on Rogers.com. Hilarious Pricing.
- Sick of talking to people on the phone who seem to be COMPLETELY uninformed about everything related to the Bold. Leaving my office. Going Rogers Bold hunting in person. There's got to be one available for purchase in this city. If I don't come home with a new Bold, KEVIN SMASH.
- Have called everyone local who sells. Have *some* hope in one place still, but for the most part not looking good to pick one up in person.
- GGGRRrrr.... It seems trying to hunt down a Bold in person did not pay off. There were none to be had in my city at this time. They're coming... perhaps on late day UPS shipments, though most likely they will be in stock tomorrow. I did snap some consolation photos - here's a nice one of my Curve and KickStart beside a Rogers Bold dummy model. Really sucks when dealers have the dummy displays set up, but don't have the device to sell. Looks like Simon got his hands on a Rogers Bold out in Ottawa - you can check his unboxing pics here. My name is on a ton of call-back lists.... should know as soon as they arrive. Now to wait...
- it's FRIDAY. Back to the Hunt Again today. Hopefully with Better Success.

Original Post:
And by Red we of course mean Rogers Red BlackBerry Bolds.
So the big day is here! August 21st, 2008. And according to Press Releases and Rogers Emails and Launch Invitations, that does mean TODAY is the day that Canadians should be able to buy a BlackBerry Bold from Rogers.

I say should, because as I write this we're really not sure that anyone will actually be able to walk into a Rogers store today and buy a BlackBerry Bold. Our buds over at BBcool posted yesterday evening that Rogers has failed epicly on this one - that Bold shipments have now been delayed until the end of August. It's 4:15am as I blog this (too darn excited to sleep... I want to go and buy my Bold in person!!) so am not quite ready to give up hope for an August 21st Rogers BlackBerry Bold just yet.

At this point, the last I have heard is still the same story we told earlier this week - Rogers gave the final stamp of approval to the Bold last Friday and the 9000R hit Rogers Sales Central system on Tuesday, meaning dealers could begin placing orders then. Assuming Bold shipments hit delivery trucks for Wednesday, there should be devices in stock for Thursday (today). They may not be there quite at store open, but hopefully soon after (drive FAST Mr. UPS man). And if the orders were put in a bit late on Sales Central, then we can still keep our fingers crossed that most dealers will take delivery of their Bold shipments on Friday and have the devices available then. 

But honestly, I just don't know. I guess the FULL STORY will unfold over the course of the day. So use the comments on this Blog Post to keep the Rogers CrackBerry Community updated! Find a Bold at your local retailer? Let us know! Have further confirmation that we're SOL untill the end of the month? Let us know! Time to put the power of positive thinking to the test... puhleaze don't let us down Rogers!

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