Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
Summary: T-Mobile flyers reveal the new BB Bold may be priced at a whopping $349.99 before a $50 mail-in rebate and that is with a 2-year contract.
We have been waiting to see RIM release the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and I was seriously considering the device to go along with my PlayBook, but if the pricing shown in this leaked T-Mobile document is true then it looks like I am not going to be joining the BlackBerry community anytime soon. $349.99 before the $50 mail-in rebate (can't these things just die?) with a 2-year contract is crazy pricing on a phone that runs a slightly modified version of an old OS and IMHO cannot compete with iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices.
When a consumer can pick up the latest and greatest smartphones at their carrier store for $199 I don't know why they would even consider the Bold 9900 at $100 more. I wonder if RIM is giving up on consumer market with the Bold 9900 so they can price some of their other upcoming BB OS 7 devices down in the $199 or less range. I know the initial cost of a smartphone is not the defining cost and has little effect on the contract cost that we pay here in the US, but it is a mental thing and does offer a comparison point with other smartphones. If it does launch at $199 with a contract and in the $400 off contract price, then I still may consider one.
I have used BlackBerry devices on and off over the years and do appreciate the long battery life and good hardware quality, but I am an Exchange and Gmail user and BlackBerry does neither of these very well unless you have a BES. Small companies where people bring iPhones and Android devices, like the one I work at, do not support a BES since there are not enough users and I'll be sticking with these other platforms for now.
If this price is real, does it change your BlackBerry Bold 9900 purchase decision?
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Talkback
RE: Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
Blackberry 9900
Blackberry 9900
RE: Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
RE: Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
That makes absolutely no difference. The only thing you need to compare this phone to is it's competition. At $300+, RIM is shooting itself in the foot.
I know that as soon as my contract is up, I will be replacing my BB, and not with another BB.
RE: Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
True, but look at it from a corporate purchasing perspective. My employer has been on Blackberry for 3 years now, and it's been the only phone they've supported for all that time. We've got well over 100 of the little buggers around here.
RIM hasn't made any real improvements in the phones in that time, at least not the ones affordable enough for the front-line crowd like myself. My 9300 is pretty much the same as my old 8310. Sure, there's more memory, but I still have to be VERY careful how many apps I can have. It's got a 3G radio and Wifi which are both welcome improvements. The replacement of the rollerball with the touchpad was nice. But the same 2.5" screen, the same battery, the same OS with a few minor refinements. Yawn. And the removal(!) of the LED flash for the camera would be a really stupid move if the camera wasn't so pathetically useless to start with (I do miss using it as a flashlight).
But many of us still love the little darlins even though they are a tad overpriced and looking a little long in the tooth.
Finally, to our squeals of delight, RIM announces brandy-new phones. At $350. For a device with specs that don't even come close to $100-200 top-shelf Androids.
All of us Blackberry lovers in the company made an impressive collective "THUD" noise when our respective jaws hit our respective desks. $350? For a BOLD? And you didn't even throw in a decent camera? And you reduced the battery capacity? What the hell, RIM?
Blackberry has not priced themselves out of the consumer range. They've priced themselves out of the CORPORATE range, especially for front-line employees.
Word just came down that BES will not be renewed, and we'll all be going to Android or iPhone by the end of the year.
I'll miss you, RIM!
But I'll be consoled with my new 4.3-inch screen, my new dual-core processor, a multi-day battery, and my new 8 megapixel camera.
So maybe not that much.
RE: Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
Nope
RE: Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
RE: Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
Ya know what the BB, and that Android you saw have in common? I won't be buying either of them.
re:
W to the TF
Uh, pretty sure you can set up Gmail as an Exchange account, btw. If I had a penny everytime a new droid/iphone/palm user tells me "But my email worked fine on my Blackberry?!" I'd own zdnet. This tells me you know very little about the difference between push and pull email (or imap vs. pop). As an example, feel free to test: Set up yahoo mail on a 'berry. Now have your pc/mac running yahoo messenger or a mail browser plugin. I think you'll find it delivers an email to the 'berry device before it does to your personal computer.
It's not just about email though
Sync?
Hi there, I use Google Sync on my BB 8830 to keep contacts and calendars synced OTA. I also had my corporate (Exchange) email and two POP accounts on the same BB so there shouldn't be a problem.
RE: Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
I'm actually wondering what leads you to think GMail support isn't very good? Is it something you've tried recently? For the last couple of years BB GMail integration is actually pretty tight. Real-time message notifications, inbox sync, read/unread sync, automatic contact and calendar sync.
I'm not sure about Exchange without BES though, I haven't tried it.
RE: Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
RE: Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
"setup a Gmail account as an Exchange account"
I hope you misspoke or you have no idea what you're talking about. In order to do that, Gmail would have to support ActivSync which it clearly doesn't unless they've incorporated some half-ass, reverse-engineered, open source version of it.
Gmail Does Activesync
http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138740&topic=14252
RE: Is the BlackBerry Bold 9900 priced out of the consumer range at $349.99?
Actually it does use ActiveSync, see this; http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/ . But, it doesn't appear to support Push for Blackberry, works fine on my Windows Phone 7 device.
Perhaps...
I admit I am a bit puzzled as to the claim that Blackberry does not do Gmail well... I gave it a try when I first got my Blackberry Curve and Gmail (as well as Yahoo) work really well on it.
I do like my Blackberry but with all of the things that my iPhone can do, all the things that Android and WP7 can do that Blackberry cannot and so far has not (decent browser, fast starting times, speed) I'm definitely not interested in a BB device that is even MORE than the highest priced iPhone, Android, or WP7 device out there that does far less.