Wish BB's would come out with 3G technology

* All Digital
* Dual–band 800/1900 Mhz 1xEV–DO networks
* Dual–band 900/1800 Mhz GSM/GPRS
(outside North America)
* 64MB Flash Memory/32MB RAM
* BlackBerry® 4.2 Desktop Software

The first commercial United States 3G network was by Monet, on CDMA2000 1x EV-DO technology, but this network provider later shut down operations. The second 3G network operator in the USA was Verizon in October 2003 also on CDMA2000 1x EV-DO, and this network has grown strongly since then.

Even though RIM’s Blackberry Bold is currently available in 13 countries, the U.S. ain’t one of them, and that could be because the iPhone 3G is hogging AT&T’s 3G network, according to a story in yesterday’s Toronto Globe and Mail.

“Both devices use the same next generation (3G) network technology, but it now appears AT&T wasn’t prepared for the bandwidth-hogging Apple device and doesn’t have the resources to launch the Bold until it cures its iPhone issues.”

Now even allowing for a few grains of salt for home team booster-ism (RIM, despite recent proclamations, was actually not founded by John McCain, and is actually a Canadian company), there’s enough here to ring true. Purely circumstantially, this theory would jibe with the leak of an AT&T handset launch map which says that the Bold’s AT&T launch, once thought to be in October, is now scheduled for November (via, Boy Genius Report).

If the delay is true, one would think this presents more of an opening to other highly-anticipated phones due out over the next few months, including HTC’s Dream (aka, the Google phone) for T-Mobile and another Blackberry device, the touchscreen-based Storm, for Verizon.

The analyst quoted in the story, Peter Misek, of Canaccord Adams, theorizes that AT&T can run 20 Blackberries on its network for each iPhone 3G, due to the fact that the iPhone 3G “lacks the data compression technology that is a hallmark of Blackberry devices,” and that AT&T could have to spend up to $1 billion to bring its 3G network up-to-speed.

Shameless Canuck booster-ism or savvy insight to AT&T 3G network woes? Stay tuned.

RIM CEO: AT&T still testing delayed BlackBerry

By PETER SVENSSON – Oct 3, 2008

NEW YORK (AP) — A delayed top-of-the-line BlackBerry phone from Research in Motion Ltd. is still undergoing testing by AT&T Inc., and RIM's co-CEO implied that the carrier wants to avoid the chorus of complaints about performance that greeted the new iPhone this summer.

RIM said in May that the BlackBerry Bold 9000 would go on sale this summer. It has gone on sale in some foreign markets, but it's still not available in the U.S., and no date has been announced.

RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said Thursday that the phone is still undergoing the certification process in which AT&T tests all new handsets to make sure they work well on its wireless network.

"There's great scrutiny, as you might know, on that network and a certain device. So I guess everyone wants to be sure on every last test," Lazaridis told The Associated Press.

Apple Inc.'s iPhone 3G went on sale in July, with AT&T as the sole U.S. carrier. Customers soon started complaining of slow data downloads and dropped calls on some units. AT&T and Apple have not directly acknowledged a problem, but Apple has released a software update that was supposed to improve performance. The majority of iPhones appear to be working well.

Lazaridis appeared confident that the Bold would not be subject to the iPhone's problems.

"We're very meticulous about what our product does," he said.

AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel would not confirm that the Bold was still in testing and said only that it would come out this year.

The delay of the Bold's U.S. launch has weighed on RIM's stock. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company will now be launching several new phones at once in the coming months, and said last week that expenses from those rollouts would eat into short-term profits.

RIM's U.S. shares fell $1.04, 1.7 percent, to close at $60.96 on Friday