Since we were the first ones to break the news about a touchscreen BlackBerry device, it�s only fitting that we follow up and give y�all the real lowdown on it! This is going to excite a lot of people, but anger many. Are you ready? The BlackBerry Thunder, as it is codenamed now, (all you "reporting" on it as the Storm are incorrect) will launch in Q3 of this year. It is a full touchscreen BlackBerry � no slide out keyboard � with only 4 physical keys. Those are the send / end phone keys, the BlackBerry menu key, and the back key. Here is the most interesting part, though: it will launch as a worldwide lifetime exclusive on Verizon and Vodafone! We�ve heard the unit will be a hybrid device with CDMA EV-DO Rev. C (for clarification, Rev C., known as UMB is practically dead. If the device will indeed launch with a 4G solution, our bet is on LTE), and GSM HSPA for traveling internationally. Verizon and Vodafone will have the same unit. Currently, the model number is the BlackBerry 9500, though it�s very early and that�s likely to change. This is HUGE for the Verizon lovers. For once they�ll get an exclusive device, but Verizon will have a sales quota for the device and if they don�t meet those numbers, we�ve heard the exclusivity will then dissolve and it�s over. This will be extremely interesting to see play out.
Didn't I read a New York Times article where the CEO complained that he couldn't type on the iphone b/c of the virtual keyboard? After that I really was expecting a hybrid device. I have to say I'm let down...
I hope half the screen isn't just virtual keyboard and half is video screen. That would be stupid. Imagine if this screen can be fully used and looks as good as the 9k does now. That would be nice. God, I really hope the bottom isn't a static virtual keyboard.
I'm just excited about this because it will be on Verizon! I don't care about exclusivity necessarily, but Verizon just HAVING it first/simultaneously with other carriers is amazing.
Well, in my opinion, if it wasn't bulky--a la the voyager or glyde--then it would feel flimsy. Don't you think something as skinny as the Pearl would feel awkward having two layers?
lifetime exclusive on Verizon??!!?? that's so ********....
Why is that any more ******** than the iPhone have exclusivity on AT&T? The iPhones exclusivity is not "lifetime," per se, but rumored to be around 5 years, by which time something bigger and better will have definitely come around (perhaps in the form of THIS BlackBerry). Verizon is the 2nd largest American provider to AT&T, and only by a couple million--it has far more subscribers than Sprint or T-Mobile.
This might be just the ticket to get a friend of mine on board the BlackBerry bus lol. He always talks about how great the iPhone he doesn't have is ::rollseyes:: Maybe this will push him over the smartphone edge and into the BlackBerry camp as well.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
It wouldn't be smart business sense for AT&T to fight to get this device. T-mobile on the other hand may be watching the quotas for RIM in regards to Verizon having to meet them.
Well, in my opinion, if it wasn't bulky--a la the voyager or glyde--then it would feel flimsy. Don't you think something as skinny as the Pearl would feel awkward having two layers?
Why is that any more ******** than the iPhone have exclusivity on AT&T? The iPhones exclusivity is not "lifetime," per se, but rumored to be around 5 years, by which time something bigger and better will have definitely come around (perhaps in the form of THIS BlackBerry). Verizon is the 2nd largest American provider to AT&T, and only by a couple million--it has far more subscribers than Sprint or T-Mobile.
its ******** because verizon is
1. way overpriced
2. cripples the **** out of phones and makes you pay for stuff that should have been free