I read several posts talking about T-Mobile is going to offer a email-only data plan that cost only $9.99/month, is this real or rumor???

it's true, i work for t-mobile and it is featured on our list of upcoming changes. Should help kick of Q3

Real. It is email only and acording tothe fine print available only on the pearl. Although I suspect it will be usable with any blackberry. You lose a lot to save only $10, I cant imagine this being hugely popular. It is a nice offering though.

I would love to get this on AT&T for my wife (would be nice if they offered it). She only needs email and attachments. No data. There is a market for this.

I do have a need for this, I am not a heavy TXT user, and I don't like to do web surfing in a small screen, but I DO have the need to check email whenever&wherever I want without need to carry a 3lb notebook and start the machine just to check an email.

So Email-only plans is really what I, and many people, would like to have.

Yes, I think this plan will be incredibly popular with average e-mail users.

--Kidd

anyone know why they did the price drop officially? marketing?

It's not a price drop, it's a new product with more limited features. They are selling tons of Blackberry Pearls which they are happy about because they're phones that use minutes, however for every person that would pay $19 per month for data/email, there's probably 4 that won't - they just like the phone. So they add a new price point of $9 a month for JUST e-mail and then bam, lots of existing Blackberry Pearl owners sign up for a LITTLE more every month and T-Mobile makes a whole lot more money.

Very easy deduction.

--Kidd

Yes, you figure by default the first 2KB only a message is forwarded, unless it's a long email and the user selects "More" to receive the other half in 2KB chunks, that class of user is only going to use a few MB a month (probably 1-6MB). That a big difference in monthly MB versus someone using the data ports for IM, web surfing, streaming, PC tethering, etc (e.g. 4MB vs. 400MB). So it makes sense to reduce the price. And like others have said, it increases demand among people without existing BIS/BES accounts. Though I am sure it may cannibalize some BIS sales.

I'm glad T-Mo is offering it. I wish ATT did!

Email only tho, I can't live without the internet on my device, so this is a no no for me.