Learned friends,

It seems that the 9000 is due out imminently via AT&T in the US, but for us folks this side of the pond, does anyone have the scoop on when it's released here, and which carrier will get it first?

I've searched Google UK, Yahoo UK, and even BBs UK website....nothing!

Cheers people.

Nothing has been set in stone, but you can expect Vodafone and sometime around the AT&T release in June.

Are you sure it'll be vodafone? O2 generally get first run of the best kit here (they still have an exclusive on the iPhone). My contract expires this month with vodafone, and I've aalready requested my PAC to move to O2 for a BB. With the 9000 due out that quickly, i'll wait til things are confirmed.

Does anyone else have an inside scoop on the UK release?

Don't be silly!!! It'll be out on Vodafone, O2 and Orange, possibly T-Mobile but I'm not sure yet. There's no exclusivity on it in any territory, so even if Vodafone comes out first in the UK, then O2 and the others will only be moments behind.

You're absolutely right.....I decided to ring the good people at RIM UK, and got put through to a very cheerful sounding man. Whilst he wasnt able to offer any firm statements, he played along well enough with my questions to confirm that there's no exclusivity deal with any carrier, and it'll be released pretty soon.

'This summer' was his opening statement, which after probing, I take to mean within the next few weeks. Hurrah!

I'd bet on UK Voda being the first, with a June release, for three reasons.

Voda have not led a BB model release since the 8300 a year ago, they'd love to get their huge corporate BB user base across to 3G quickly because it costs them less, and they don't have a deal on the forthcoming 3G iPhone, which may start to hurt once the implications of its support for MS Exchange become known.

O2 and Orange got the 8x20's first...
And if it's imminent on AT&T in the US, then it would be O2 over out side of the pond.
Having said that, as david-uk said, its time Vodafone had some sort of 'first pickings' on the device so to speak.

I agree that I'd put my money on Vodafone getting in to gear first, but as for the iPhone I disagree - nobody gives a monkeys about the iPhone here and it's not because of the connectivity speeds, it's the price point. Unless the contractual price of the iPhone is under £150 on a bundled airtime agreement of under £45 a month then it just won't sell here. If anything, Vodafone would be more likely be interested in getting the 9000 to market for political reasons - they pissed RIM off when they signed up with Visto to bring 'Vodafone Business Email' to the table and it fell predictably on it's arse and now you see Visto staff being laid off all over the place. Vodafone tried to bring their own unproven front end brand to a mobile email platform and it sank, and now they need to get back in bed with RIM. Lets also not forget that Vodafone's UK 3G network puts O2's to shame, and this would be a big win for them.

Well, as I'm now out of contract with vodafone, I get regular calls to see what I want to do. I told them today that I'm waiting til the 9000 is released, and going with whoever offers the best contract for it. The muppet I spoke to hadn't even heard of it, and the only future release info they had was on an 8310 (I may have mis-heard the exact model) which their system said was due out on June 1st.

Surely if Vodafone were gearing up for a first-pickings deal with RIM, they'd be priming people at the sharp end with a basic awareness of the model at the very least. I'm personally hoping to move to O2. Despite being with vodafone for over 12 years, i've always had to threaten to leave before getting anything comparable to other carrier offers, and my loyalty has never been recognised. The only way they'll keep me is if its an exclusive 9000 deal, or they drop their pants on pricing.

June 32, 2010

Well, I've been with Voda since they started in 1985, which probably says more about my inertia than Voda's compelling customer proposition.

It's clear from trawling BBForums that most if not all carriers suffer from poor product awareness. And the fact that Voda's CS team were unaware of the Bold 24 hours after RIM's announcement doesn't surprise me a bit; after all they're only briefed on products that are already on the system, ie days away from stock.

Like you, I consider migrating at the end of each contract. I evaluate coverage first (I roam frequently and rates and quality vary widely), then pricing. A new handset won't change my life - but a carrier with no coverage when/where I need it could be a disaster. As with so many purchasing decisions, it's the devil you know...

I agree david, coverage is king, but I'd say that 02's coverage more than matched voda's, and their treatment of customers seems to be significantly better. The BB deals from them are way ahead of Voda's, and in order to get something near it, you have to go through the threatening to leave palava, which is just plain wrong.

Nope - whay is some kid in a customer retention department going to be educated on the latest device just announced at WES?

I couldn't disagree more. Current BlackBerry experience is better with O2 yeas, because they run an EDGE network, but when the 9000 launched Vodafone will offer better network service as they have a more comprehensive and significantly faster 3G network than O2.

Agreed - O2's consumer offerings are much much stronger.

Its obviously going to the UK networks but i have had an interesting conversation with a BB colleague and he has been allowed to put a pre-order in for their mid-July release.

Having said that it did take him talking to 3 individuals before any information was made available.

So how legit that is we will wait to see.

Hi all,

The problem with 02 that hasn't affected BB's to date but with the Bold and 3G/HSDPA 02 are at a massive disadvantage to some of the other Networks IMO. As people on 02 are struggling to even get 3G speeds of 384kbps where as on VodaFone i get speeds of 1,745kbps the only good thing about 02 is there current pricing. So i will need to see just what price plans VodaFone are offering now they have there new price plans. But seeing as VodaFone are getting the Touch Screen BB exclusive for Europe i wouldn't be surprised if they also get the Bold first this time round.

Marc

Is it possible that '3' could now move into selling Blackberries?

Thoughts?

It would make sense, but they don't really target the business market & have their own Mobile Mail product (powered by Seven) which they chuck at most of their customers.

I'm due to upgrade with o2 soon, hopefully the BB 9000 will be out soon!!!

Sometimes UK carriers make new models available with new contracts some months before they appear as upgrades.

Strange how getting new customers always seems more important than satisfying the ones they've got.