[anon(1005582)]

I had gone to my cousins house yesterday and my cousin works at a Source store in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). I was talking to him and he was telling me that Bell will be one of the first carriers to get the Blackberry 10 phones (not shocking). He also told me that the release date is expected to be February 4, 2013. Some other things he was telling me was that some of the Source stores are going to be getting BB10 test devices within 3 weeks so that the managers can tell their employees how to sell BB10 phones (nice to see). One thing that he told me that I found kind of strange was that Bell might be getting some sort of exclusivity to sell BB10, but he did say that this isn't for sure but Bell wants some sort of exclusivity.

It's nice to see that RIM has learned that they really need to market BB10 like crazy and get the right people to market it (carriers) and market is early. We have heard countless stories of how employees at stores and carrier shops have no idea about the Playbook capabilities and other BB devices and just recommend ios and android devices.
As for exclusivity, I hope RIM doesn't doesn't give Bell a selling exclusivity because RIM really needs to get BB10 to as many carriers as fast as possible.
I'm not to shocked about the release date as it fits in close to what we have been hearing from RIM.

[GTiLeo]

they won't be getting BB10 exclusive, Bell isn't even the biggest carrier anymore, in the GTA rogers is probably th biggest and it would make no sense from a sales stand point to give Bell an exclusive right when in a few years Rogers will dominate even the rural areas of Canada

either way this is great news and i'm glad our carriers are not writing off RIM like the americans are

[dragonx6]

Thats a great date. Not too late not too early. Ill be looking to get an unlocked one as soon as they are available

[jordandrews90]

i'm glad our carriers are not writing off RIM like the americans are

I'm asuming RIM is doing the same things with American Cariers. I would hope anyways.

[GTiLeo]

would hope but it doesn't seem that american carriers have the same open mind, judging by how they tell people that RIM is going out of business and not stocking Blackberry devices in stores. i'm an electrician and when i go to site meetings all i see are blackberry phones as well as playbooks, the only people that use Android or iPhones are the workers, those cordinating things all use BlackBerry and care more for their functionality then their wow factor.

either way here in Canada the BlackBerry brand is still pretty strong much stronger then it is to our brothers to the south

[mcmolineux]

I hope any exclusivity is just a colour or something (and I'm with Bell, so it wouldn't matter to me really).

The date makes sense though. Thanks for sharing.

[rickbansal]

what do you mean "not too early"??. no such thing...

[rickbansal]

Thats a great date. Not too late not too early. Ill be looking to get an unlocked one as soon as they are available

what do you mean "not too early"??. no such thing...

[Masahiro]

what do you mean "not too early"??. no such thing...

PlayBook is a good example of "too early". It was a great device at release, but it was slammed for missing key features such as e-mail. This pretty much removed any momentum it had coming out of the gate. Essentially, it should have been released with OS 2.0. RIM can't afford to repeat that mistake again, but the problem is, they don't have as much time as they did when they released the PB.

[jesse_h]

I would have believed almost everything you said until I read the part about Bell having exclusive rights to bb10. That took all the credibility away from everything.

[Tank1978]

As i said last week. I asked my buddy who works for a major bank in Canada. He will be getting the BB10 mid November to test..

[anon(1005582)]

"I would have believed almost everything you said until I read the part about Bell having exclusive rights to bb10. That took all the credibility away from everything."

Well maybe you need to read more and proof read before you write. First of all, my cousin didn't say that Bell would have exclusive rights to BB10 but that Bell is looking for some sort of exclusivity. What form of exclusivity Bell wants, he has no idea. But if you have been keeping up with BB10 news, you will have seen that more than one color is expected to come out, maybe Bell wants a colour or something. Also, if you read other tech sources, you may have seen that Rogers and Bell both have some sort of exclusivity with the new Nokia Lumia Windows phones coming out (the right to sell the lumia for a pre-determined amount of time, colours, and memory size).
I am baffled that you would believe everything I had said without any proof, so far, but doubted everything until Bell came up. Just in case you didn't know, the Source is owned by Bell which is why he told me about Bell wanting some sort of exclusivity. As far as we know, Rogers may be wanting some sort of exclusivity as well.

[Jonesy1966]

I just can't see Bell getting any sort of exclusive at this time, maybe in the future but not now. BB10 is far too important for RIM to be taking any sort of chances with. This means getting as many phones into the sweaty paws of as many users as possible in as short a time as possible, they just wouldn't be able to achieve that goal by giving exclusives to individual carriers even if it's just a colour. Don't forget, the optics are as important to this launch as much as anything else. Can you imagine Joe Blow Insurance Co not being able to get the new BlackBerrys because they're with Rogers or Telus? That would be a PR disaster.

[dragonx6]

what do you mean "not too early"??. no such thing...

When i said not too early i meant in terms of being too close to christmas and the holidays. A lot of people cant really afford brand new phones right after the holidays.

Also the point Masahiro made. if they have the time they should use it to fix it up as much as possible get rid of all the bugs they can possibly find.

[anon(1005582)]

I completely agree with you @Jonesy1966. I don't believe Bell will be getting any exclusivity, even on colour. But it is interesting to note that Bell does want exclusivity in one form or another. I hope that RIM doesn't give it to them

[gjohnsto]

Re: dates; I hope you're right. I'm taking a trip to vegas and I'm going to have $300 begging to be turned into $600 at the roulette wheel so I can get this phone!
(stupid, I know. But I want to buy one outright so I can use my next upgrade for the a series)

[Superfly_FR]

early Feb. matches with my infos too.

[aha]

Thanks OP, looking forward to more info coming from your cousin.

[kbz1960]

No exclusives, period. I will not change carriers for a phone, period.

[berriac]

Date perfectly in line with valentine's day

[Homo Erectus]

Feb 16 launch in the usa and in canada mar 4

[damillz]

Feb 16 launch in the usa and in canada mar 4

Does not seem logical to launch in the us before launching in Canada since Canada has stuck with rim (for the most part) while the us has abandoned blackberry.

[Jonesy1966]

Does not seem logical to launch in the us before launching in Canada since Canada has stuck with rim (for the most part) while the us has abandoned blackberry.

I would have a tendency to agree but stranger things have happened; RIM desperately needs to re-establish itself in the US again so maybe allocating all its launch resources there is not such a crazy idea after all. What I do have an issue with are the disparate dates, almost a full month between launches would be a dangerous move, you don't want to give the impression that one market is any less important than another, especially when one has been steadfastly loyal while the other more or less turned its back on the brand. Ten days to two weeks would be more palatable.

[Masahiro]

Does not seem logical to launch in the us before launching in Canada since Canada has stuck with rim (for the most part) while the us has abandoned blackberry.

Guess I'll just be going across the border to pick one up then. :P

[canuckvoip]

I agree that the U.S. is where the largest amount of bleeding is. That being said, if it were up to me I'd launch North American wide.