How do they get phones months before so fast? All of them dont seem like they work for big companies yet most of them already have them to test...im not bashing them I love that they get them and tell us every detail possible but I wanna know why rim decided they are the ones to get them....Is it a publicity thing?

I am an Alliance Partner of RIM's and I can not even get the Curve yet. I would like to know this as well. When I ask my rep at RIM about these when I see them online he says that he can not comment on unannounced devices.

I would imagine that as part of their NDA's, they also can't state how or why they are privileged to such newness. I'm guess they somehow got hooked up to be beta testers (wouldn't we all love to be) and because of them we get the scoop bright and early. The Boy Genius is a mystery, his scoop is always spot on and he seems to be in the "know" before anyone but seems to never be stuck in a NDA?????

It is a testing thing.

Not sure how RIM does it but Nextel approached my company 5-6 years ago and offered to replace all 19 of our Nextels with their latest and greatest. We accepted and used them for 3 months. There was a good bit of paperwork involved and they wanted input on how these devices were working.

At the end of the study, they brouight new phones, same new model and replaced the one on loan.

I think the local sales people had something to do with who was picked and the size of our group.

O I see...

Usually (read: always) anything leaked prior to announcement involves someone breaching an NDA

And God bless 'em!