Hey guys,

My friend works at the CINGULAR corporate office in Paramus, NJ in the EIS department. I told him to get more information about the 8800 because they receive the devices way before release so they can learn it before they come out so they can help troubleshoot for customers.

Anyway, the manager states that the 8800 is still at RIM undergoing more testing. He also confirms that it won't be available on Cingular until Feb earliest and April latest (we knew the latest part). All RIM told Cingular was first quarter of 2007 but the manager states that the agreement they have with RIM is that they must get the phone atleast one month in advance so they can train their EIS reps.

Hope that helps guys!

All nice to hear. Keep us posted with any other news. I, too, know someone way up in the Cingular ladder and he confirmed it will be May or April at the latest. He did say we will not be waiting for T-Mo!

Good to hear some news...

Been dry on the 8800 lately!

Hmm, so how does it look for the Tmo in Jan/Feb? I wish we got some confirmation for the Tmo so i know whether to keep the 8700 or not because I am on the 14 day trial. You think we'll know in a week or two? Should i return the 8700 and just wait for the tmo 8800? I know i can sell it and get the 8800 but it will be a waste of time and money if the tmo is coming out real soon. AHH

But the battery life on mine sucks so what do I do now?

I suggest returning the 8700g to T-Mobile and getting one cheaply on Ebay or in the sale forum here if you know you will want to upgrade to the 8800 soon. No point in getting under contract and not having options...I haven't been under contract in a really long time and have no plans to change that unless I see the 8800 out.

Yeah I was thinking that too...my friend says that everyone at cingular is anticipating the 8800 but RIM is known to be so hush hush about things...but it probably won't come out until ATLEAST Feb because cingular has to get it atleast a month in advance for their employees so i dont know

Oh No! Not this again!

Sorry but this is the only news I can get is from my friend at Cingular. As far as T-Mo, I do not have a clue. RIM is even harder to get news out of!

I hope both carriers are going to deliver. From what my friend says RIM has and is making a butt load of these 8800 units as they expect sales to be VERY good. I know my RIM stock that I bouth for about $25 is pushing $100! I will be selling soon as what goes up fast can fall just as quickly!

thanks for the info. Cingular's CORPORATE office is in Atlanta, GA

Yeah, thats their Corporate HQ...the one in Paramus is the corp office that covers the tri state area

I think you just defined REGIONAL office.

Paramus, NJ is a call center for Cingular. It's not a corporate HQ or a regional HQ.

I know it depends on the carrier, but doesn't it also depend on the region that you live in? I would think that the major cities would get first delivery because of the large target market. Maybe starting in the East Coast and then moving it's way to the West Coast, or do they randomly pick cities to make shipments to?

When a company like CIngular or Sprint launches a phone, it is usually Nationwide. Being a long time Nextel user, when they launced a new phone it was the same day all over the country.

No way that Cingular would just launch the 8800 in one state or one part of the country, it would go nationwide. Thus the need for a butt load of devices. Each store may only get 5-10 phones for the launch with more coming in the days after.

I am sure that the phones are sent to the larger stores. These choice are made above the company store level as my local store says they do not order a new phone, it is shipped to them automatically.

Yeah, I agree...they may launch for one carrier at a time but when they launch for that one carrier, it's for every state...atleast from what i've witnessed, i could be wrong.

If anyone has a test 8800 they want to sell I got the $!

I agree...but just to poke fun, Google's still up there. You have to be a gazillionaire if you still own their stock.

I figure they are good thru their next batch of new phones and maybe further but to be on the safe side, after the 8800, I got to get out!

Love to see that 8800 in person!

Def launch nationwide, as they have done recently with all their phones.
I'm just hoping they sneak 3G in there!!!!!

NDA, thats gotta be life threatening....

How much is life worth. I have ALOT of money! <vbg>

for all of you with any cing contacts will the cing 8800 have UMA like the tmo is rumored to have? from what I can tell tmo is the only us carrier with uma ready.

This is a quote from an article at:New Year Won't Stop Research In Motion - Forbes.com
In addition to the existing multimedia and Internet applications offered on the BlackBerry devices, Sanderson expects the integration of the global positioning system, on the Indigo, slated to launch in February, will take the product to new heights.

wow. that article rocks!

Cingular skipped UMA for IMS. Look for a future BlackBerry device to have IMS support, but not the 8800. Cingular should have IMS implemented sometime in 2008 (unless target dates have been moved up). I think we can expect IMS compatibility on a BlackBerry within 18 months (but that's just speculation). I do know that RIM is working on this now.

Excuse my ignorance but what is UMA and IMS?

Thanks for the very good news that Cingular will be getting it.

Cheers ...

IMS: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

LMAO

So the 8800 on cing with wifi will not be able to get any cell calls while the tmo one will? This is a huge negative for the 8800 on cingular and a huge positive for tmo.

You may want to look this up on Wikipedia your self before you pooint some one there.

I did. The right one wasn't there so a joke would do. Why don't you provide us a more appropriate link?

Try this link: IP Multimedia Subsystem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HAHA Irritable Male Syndrome, that's hilarious...good one!

Not around here. T-Mo coverage is so poor you have to go outside to use it. It show excellent on their map at both my house and business but you are lucky to get a bar on the meter. This is a huge negative for T-Mo.

yea and in both those places don't you have wifi? That's my point, the only place tmo signal is bad for me is in my house, where I have wifi so there I'd use UMA, problem solved. Plus on wifi I'd have ultra fast browser access so I don't mind using it whereever I could even if tmo signal is great. If I switch to wifi on cingular I just shut off my cell phone which is a bad thing.

I think this is premature speculation, as we have not seen any devices, nor has the final configuration been published.

Rumors run rampart when there is nothing else to rely on.

Cheers..........

Speculation based on facts however. As every news post I can dig up mentions cingular not going with uma and using IMS instead. the 8800 will no way support IMS. If it supports UMA then that leaves tmo (who by every news post is going with uma) to implement it for the 8800. There is no third choice for cingular to surprise us with which means their 8800 will simply have a wifi card as my laptop does. And when active the cell network will have to be down.

I'm on cingular now cause they beat tmo for me with coverage. But I think tmo + uma on 8800 will win a lot of that deciding factor stuff for people over cingular 8800 + no cell service when on wifi.

You bring up a few valid points which I certainly agree with if indeed this is the configuration that appears in the final product which seems likely at this late date.
Kudos for digging up more than I have in your research. Despite the constant searching on my part I missed this info you have presented.
Nice work!

Cheers ...