3G BlackBerry Delays and 9000 Battery Rumors Squashed?!
In the time that I've been covering the BlackBerry beat, from my observations I'd have to say when it comes to news, rumors and speculation the blogosphere is typically where it's at. Sure, mis-info and missed timelines do happen - but more often than not the info presented is a good indicator of what's going down and is typically wayyy ahead of what's being written in the "big media" sites.
That being said, it seems heading into the weekend some "big media" sites are dropping the BlackBerry rumor and speculation bombs.
In the CNN/Fortune blogs, Scott Moritz has put forth the notion that the release of the 3G BlackBerry Meteor aka 8900 is going to be pushed back until late August. Moritz's take is that the 3G iPhone will be released on June 27th (the iPhone's one year anniversary) and that AT&T wouldn't want to have two competing 3G phones hit the market at the same time, hence pushing back the 8900's release. According to Moritz there is speculation from people close to the company that AT&T is using a technical glitch (concerns about call quality) as the "reasoning" for the delay.
Moritz also says a 3G touchscreen BlackBerry 9000 is due out later this year. Interesting stuff here. There is definitely logic to the potential release date delays, but I'm a bit confused by Moritz's device naming. Specifically, when Moritz refers to the 8900 he is talking about the device we have all seen leaked photos of recently, which on screenshots is actually called the 9000... "It is a black phone with a silver metal edge, curved corners and a flatter Qwerty keyboard than the namesake bumpy berry-skin keypad." It's hard to keep track of the rumors, but at last count I for one thought the 8900 name was now dead and gone (unless it's just going to be an 8800 with 3G?!) and we've moved onto 9000 and 9100 device names for this next era of devices. I'm thinking Mortiz got this one a bit wrong.
And over at the Financial Post, David George-Cosh put a potential squash to rumors that the 9000 is going to have horrible battery life. Supposed word coming back thus far from people who have had the opportunity to use the 9000 is that the battery on the new berry dies quick (despite its massive size) thanks to the big processor and 3G. David declares there are No Problems with the New BlackBerry 9000 batteries, with a RIM official indicating "that the leaked devices are only "prototypes" whose performance should not be judged prior to their release." I hope that's the case, and I want to believe it. I don't think RIM would ever release a phone that can't go at least 24 hours, but the 9000 will definitely be the test on that law.
There ya have it folks, BlackBerry 9000 info not coming from the usual suspects. Only problem is it seems like it might be late and might be wrong, that's all. Isn't that right BG???
