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AT&T Announces The BlackBerry Curve 8520 Smartphone

by Adam Zeis on 16 Nov 2009 11:43 AM
8
 

Curve 8520

While all of the hype has been on the Bold 9700, we seemed to forget that the Curve 85xx series was heading to carriers as well. Both Verizon and Sprint will be getting the Curve 8530, and today AT&T announced the 8520 will be available "in the coming weeks". The latest device to the AT&T lineup holds the same specs as its siblings and will carry a $99.99 pricetag (after mail-in rebate). A 2-year agreement and monthly data plan will be required.

Press Release

New BlackBerry Curve 8520 Joins AT&T Smartphone Lineup

AT&T's Great-Value Smartphone Features Global Access, Slick Design, Robust Capability, Trackpad, Media Keys for easy access to Music and Entertainment, Preloaded Facebook and MySpace

DALLAS, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T*, the choice for twice as many smartphone customers than any other carrier and the first U.S. carrier to offer BlackBerry® service, announced today it will introduce the best value in its BlackBerry smartphone portfolio with the addition of the BlackBerry® Curve(TM) 8520 from Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM).

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 is a stylish, easy-to-use, compact smartphone offering the best value for consumer and business customers looking for BlackBerry service. The smartphone features a full QWERTY keyboard and touch-sensitive trackpad for easy typing and navigation, built-in Wi-Fi® and an advanced media player, plus dedicated media keys, smoothly integrated along the top of the handset, for a convenient way to control music and videos. The handset also provides global connectivity via phone, email, text, IM, picture messaging and social networking, with Facebook® and My Space applications preloaded.

The sleek, new device houses a high-resolution 320x240 display a 512 MHz processor, 256 MB of Flash memory, and a 2 megapixel camera equipped with video recording.

"AT&T was the first choice for BlackBerry in the U.S. and we continue to expand our offering of BlackBerry products to suit the different needs of business and personal users," said Michael Woodward, vice president, Mobile Phone Portfolio, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "The BlackBerry Curve 8520 offers the best value by combining the essential features of a BlackBerry smartphone with access to AT&T's network, which includes best coverage worldwide, as well as the nation's largest Wi-Fi network."

AT&T users of the new BlackBerry Curve 8520 can enjoy access to the nation's largest Wi-Fi network with more than 20,000 U.S. hotspots -- including approximately 7,000 Starbucks locations. As with all other Wi-Fi enabled BlackBerry smartphones from AT&T, BlackBerry Curve 8520 users with a qualifying data plan, which includes all consumer BlackBerry unlimited data plans, get seamless and unlimited access to these domestic hotspots at no additional cost. When traveling outside the U.S., BlackBerry Curve 8520 users can enjoy the best coverage worldwide with wireless voice coverage in more than 215 countries and wireless data coverage in more than 185 countries.

Mobile users will enjoy great battery life, simultaneous voice and data capabilities when using Wi-Fi, and the ability to access up to 10 corporate and personal email accounts. The BlackBerry Curve 8520 also affords users the ability to edit Microsoft® Word, Excel® and PowerPoint® files with DataViz® Documents to Go® suite.

"The new BlackBerry Curve 8520 is a great choice for first-time smartphone users and offers easy-to-use messaging, social networking and multimedia features with a full-QWERTY keyboard that makes typing fast and comfortable," said Carlo Chiarello, vice president, product management, Research In Motion.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone will be available in the coming weeks for $99.99 after mail-in rebate. (Pay $199.99 and receive $100 AT&T Promotion Card. 2-year agreement on a min. $69.99 plan required.) AT&T smartphones require the purchase of a monthly data plan. Other monthly charges apply. See below.**

For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit www.att.com

For more information and detailed disclaimer information, please review this announcement in the AT&T newsroom at http://www.att.com/newsroom.

* AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

** AT&T imposes: a Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge of up to $1.25 to help defray costs incurred in complying with obligations and charges imposed by State and Federal telecom regulations; State and Federal Universal Service charges; and surcharges for government assessments on AT&T. These fees are not taxes or government-required charges.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates - AT&T operating companies - are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest 3G network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet and voice services. AT&T offers the best wireless coverage worldwide, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse(SM) and AT&T |DIRECTV(SM) brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T's Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations are known for their leadership in directory publishing and advertising sales. In 2009, AT&T again ranked No. 1 in the telecommunications industry on FORTUNE® magazine's list of the World's Most Admired Companies.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com. This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATTNews. Find us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ATT to discover more about our consumer and wireless services or at www.facebook.com/ATTSmallBiz to discover more about our small business services.

© 2009 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. 3G service not available in all areas. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. RIM assumes no obligations or liability and makes no representation, warranty, endorsement or guarantee in relation to any aspect of any third party products or services. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

 

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8 Comments

Posted by cjford78 Monday, Nov 16, 2009 921 days ago

but I'm still getting the 9700...

 
 
Posted by stargrl7178 Monday, Nov 16, 2009 921 days ago

Does this have 3G?

 
 
Posted by original00 Monday, Nov 16, 2009 921 days ago

I cannot understand why these carriers are bothering with the 8520 when they have the 8900. Wouldn't it make more sense to discount the 8900 than than having it along with the 8520. Trackpad???? I know it is the future but is it worth a whole new device with underwhelming specs? So customers will have to choose between the 9700,9000,8900,8520, 8820,8310 and 8320. I know we as consumers like choice but does anyone see anything wrong with this picture or is it just me?

 
 
Posted by bobdelt Monday, Nov 16, 2009 921 days ago

RIM has a boat load of these old curve screen lying around. This is very dated technology in a modern looking package.

Consumers will like it because it looks pretty.
Carriers will LOVE them because they're dirt cheap, and will force buyers into an expense data plan.
RIM will love it because they'll move a lot of them, and they still get paid for BIS/BES server users.

And quite frankly, it's not that bad of a device. I'm thinking of trading in my tour for the 8530 for several reasons, track pad - better reception (my 8330 got WAY better reception than my tour), wifi, smaller form factor.

 
 
Posted by bobdelt Monday, Nov 16, 2009 921 days ago

and the old curve serious is gone. they probably just have to deplete whatever inventory is left.

 
 
Posted by mookish Monday, Nov 16, 2009 921 days ago

Hey, gotta have something out there to take money from the suckers who don't do homework. Wouldn't you? I would.

 
 
Posted by brindaarnold Monday, Nov 16, 2009 920 days ago

It all comes down to money really. When I bought my 8310 I had a choice between that and the 9000. Cheaper was the no-brainer for me because I'd never used a BlackBerry before so I didn't know any better and I really wanted one. I do know better now (thanks Kevin!*) so get out of my way on the 22nd 'cause 9700, here I come! =D

*my husband thanks you too....NOT! HAHA!

 
 
Posted by bryanf Wednesday, Dec 02, 2009 905 days ago

I've been checking AT&T premier for this device to show up. I'm hoping it will be free after a couple of days just like the 8320 considering the 9700 is now the same price as the 9000 ($175)

I'm mainly interested in it for lower end users like that might take advantage of having the trackpad but not need the high end data or processor. The trackballs break all the time (I've gone through like 9 of them on various devices) and that's what I see as the biggest advantage of this device is filling that low end but getting maybe more longevity, however that's yet to be seen.

In looking for a date when it might actually release, I came across the at&t popup for the dataplan requirements but is specific to the device.

http://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/popups/general/blackberry-cur...

It actually kind of saddens me that AT&T can't programatically generate this page at runtime for the device that was selected. But hopefully them building out their business legal docs is an indication that it might be coming sooner rather than later.