If the retail and contract pricing isn't realistic it just won't sell as well as RIM/Carriers want it to. So pricing will be likely higher but not ridiculously higher.

Its interesting to me to see all you guys estimating prices within a $50 range. After all, what does a new BlackBerry Curve cost with contract? Well, $249.99 from T-Mobile, or $99.99 from AT&T. (And considering that T-Mobile got ALL of that extra $150 up front rather than over the course of two years of payments, it also explains why their data plans are $10/mo cheaper.)

I kan sel u 1 now for $ 800 dollirs.... Pleaze let me kno if u want

I doubt it will do very well at an $800 price point, especially considering the iPhone 2 will have a bigger screen, 16 gigs of storage, better multimedia capabilities, better internet browsing experience, 3g, wifi, AND GPS .. all for $499? I am willing to bet that it MAY sell for $800 until RIM realizes the price point is hurting them, and drop the price after a few months as iPhone 2 cleans up shop and its 3rd party application list swells.

You convince me you really have a 9000 and I got the money.

The jesus phone 2 only has the screen and onboard memory going for it, Multimedia is up to the users opinion as for the 3G, WiFi, GPS the BB9000 has it AND it can do Video something the Jesus phone doesn't do and I doubt JP2 can either.

Still one would argue its an iPod, but I would say it's only 16GB of memory and you cannot add anymore, but on my BB9000 I can swap out the media card and play more video and tunes and, and, and. So really its based on what you want your phone to do.

The other thing going for it is applications. The SDK they have released can put together some pretty high quality software in a short amount of time. Ive seen the results from the developer challenge, and the software that they showcased that was developed in a very short amount of time trumps everything I have seen for BlackBerry. Both games and business apps. Not only will it have multimedia, but it will overall be a better entertainment unit because of that. Portable console quality gaming and app quality that high is something I doubt we will see from the BlackBerry side.

Also, the leaked price for the 9000 is something that seems more realistic than the $800 price people are posting here. At the predicted price points at the start of this thread, I seriously had doubt the 9000 would do well at all. This, is more realistic. Blackberry Bold release dates, pricing leak out - Engadget Mobile

And once again, here is someone comparing apples and oranges. All those people who ran out and bought iPhones the first time around, are disappointed because of the lack of support and applications Apple promised them.

You cannot compare the two different devices. They are geared towards two totally different demographics.

Why don't we also guess about when it will be released.

I have not seen any of the apps from the developer showcase, and I will take your word that what you have seen is indeed impressive. There is one thing to remember though and that is iphone fanboys and not your everyday iphone (in other words I just want that cool apple phone) have been touting how the current iphone trumps the BlackBerry's. Unfortunately they cannot say the current iPhone trumps anything in terms of Appls available. In my view they are using a revisionist history viewpoint to act as if the iPhone SDK existed on day one. I do not feel Apple had any real plan for an SDK. Again just my opinion (as an Apple user I have the right to have one).

The iPhone/iPod Touch will be a great gaming, multimedia platform I do not doubt that and honestly I will opt for the iPod Touch when it hits 64GB or higher as my multimedia unit.

I would also agree that RIM has been less than forthcoming on the API front and if they follow through and help developers as they announced then that should also mean more API access. But RIM has a reason to be more cautious and that is their focus on security on the device. After all it IS a BUSINESS device that has gained significant enhancements on the multimedia side.

In the end true competition forces the raining champ to get back to the gym, retool, rebuild and come out strong. With a US & World population currently at (courtesy of U.S. and World Population Clocks - POPClocks)

Population Clocks
U.S. 304,112,513
World 6,668,432,717
12:32 GMT (EST+5) May 18, 2008

There is plenty of room for just about any competitor and then some.

But pricewise they should at least compete. RIM is trying to reshape the Blackberry name to be more than just a business unit. They have been spending a lot of time on making everything pretty, improving multimedia support, and even making deals with music companies to provide a service for legal music.

I was merely pointing out that, as a company that is gearing themselves to be more consumer friendly, releasing an $800 unit is extremely counter productive for what they are trying to achieve. In THAT respect you can compare price points.

If they were not trying to make the platform more consumer friendly and stay a business device I would completely agree that you cannot compare apples to oranges and $800 would be justified because business people will still buy it. But, thats not that they are trying to do.

That being said, I have owned every BB released since my 7100t on Tmobile, every Smartphone on AT&T, 2 on VZW, and as some people on here know, just came back to BB from the Tilt AND an iPhone. I will be buying the 9000 when it is released, and would have done so at $800 even. But I seriously doubt it will be that much come release time.

Wirelessly posted (8830)

What if I renew my contract with this phone in May 09. With my New every two credit at verizon?

There is no Bold for verizon. And you'll have to wait til May '09 to find out whats going to happen.

Wirelessly posted (8830)

That's bull there aint no way vzw is gonna miss the 9000 train

I agree on it that the BB has been reshaped to a entertainment unit. Since it is originally a business unit. Bold maybe more popular than any other BBs released.

you're right. same way VZW didn't miss the 8800 train when it debuted and the same way it didn't miss the curve train when it debuted either and I'm not even going to mention that VZW hopped on the pearl train ASAP... or was that a year later? You can think and hope all you want, but you're only going to be disappointed that much more when you realize it ain't happening for VZW anytime soon.

Verizon just needs to leave the phones alone and sell them as designed and stop screwing their customer base over by disabling features, or is that a feature unto itself?

blah blah blah Verizon hasnt screwed anyone over. If the customer does their research prior to buying, they wouldnt get "screwed: over. I knew in advance the the pearl didnt have GPS and it hasnt bothered me one bit. Its up to the consumor to find out what a carrier does or doesnt do.

I noticed you arent raising hell about sprint not having MMS on their BBs come on now thats being screwed over.