Let me start off by saying I am in no way expressing any dislike for AT&T service, employees, affiliates, or anyone I may have left out. But I want this phone!!

I did a little mystery shop of AT&T stores trying to get something in terms of a generalized idea of a release. This is the sum of my attempt:

3 - "I have no idea" (Good answer considering some of the others I heard)
1 - "Will not be released until Christmas" (REALLY?!?)
2 - "July or August sometime"
2 - "I'm Sorry, which phone? AT&T won't be carrying that one"
3 - "We are anticipating a June release"
1 - "Verizon just got the Bold, the BB we just released is a redesigned Pearl"

Just thought I would share and highlight my favorite answers.

Gotta love it!!

That equates to "We have no idea."

Wirelessly posted (my new touch button BB)

The only release info that has been disseminated to ATT corp stores is "later this summer"

Is Christmas "later this summer?"

Hahahaha.. Nice JC!

Yeah, the stores are pretty much the worst source of information.

They should require the store employee's to follow this forum. At least then they would be in"formed"

i asked someone today at a phone store and they told me 'later this summer it got pushed back til at least august'
this was in canada so it was in relation to rogers....

again, what this thread as proved if DONT LISTEN TO SALES REPS! lol they dont know anything of when a device will be released. all they know is when they get the memo, oh such and such device, to be released whatever date... and they only get that memo when they are pretty much getting the phones in the back door

I know but sometimes you can't help it. And I would much rather get an "I'm not sure, let me try to find out for you" than a speculative answer that would make no sense whatsoever. RIM wouldn't announce a device and then keep us foaming at the mouth until Christmas. They would lose alot of would be buyers. Was that a rant?? Whoops I think it's obvious I want this device..

I was informed that it would be July. Whether that information is correct or not; I do not know.

You can not really blame the ATT employees for being clueless about the 9000! They have been told nothing and most could care less. They do this for a living and what they want most are to resign or sign up new accounts.

they will not be introduced to the bold until within hours of it's sale.

No but you can blame them for giving useless answers instead of just being honest and sticking with the "I don't know, let me find out for you."

The funny employees are the ones in those booths in the mall. They always try and stop you and sell you a phone.

When I got my XV680 at Christmas time, I got stopped at the Verizon booth. I said I already had a new phone. They looked at it like "Holy crap what is this". I told the guy, "You need to get a glove and get in the game".

should they also be required to follow the forums for all other devices as well?

Always be VERY warry of phone sales in a booth at the local mall. These people are only authorized retailers and not company stores. They can be sleezy. I never buy from these people.

Nope, they are only sales people and the majority will tell you what you want to hear or something else just to try to convince you they know what is going on.

Outside this forum, if you questioned 100 people about the Blackberry 9000, you would be lucky to find 2-3 that even knew about it.

People in this forum, including me, are not "normal/typical" phone consumers.

In spain I am assualted by spanish language google ads for the Bold. They have only just got the 8120 and thats stuck in a depot! The staff at any store have no idea about the 8120 so we didnt move onto the Bold!

I did the same mystery shopping on Monday except out of the 5 stores I called, only one rep had no idea. The other 4 told me that they all had an "informational" huddle that morning and that they are expecting them this month. 2 of the store managers took my # down so that I could "be one of the first"

We shall see!

T-Mobile or AT&T stores?