Doubt over the launch of the BlackBerry Bold in Australia on the Telstra network has ended. Today, Telstra announced that the BlackBerry Bold will be offered for Australian customers starting in late September. Telstra Business Group Managing Director, Ms Deena Shiff said BlackBerry devices were an increasingly popular and important device business customers, and customers could now pre-register the new BlackBerry Bold smartphone.
Telstra will be offering the new BlackBerry Bold smartphone for $0 upfront to business customers from late September and customers can register their interest from today via our website or by calling 1800BUSINESS.” Ms Shiff said.
With the growing success of the BlackBerry in Australia it comes as little surprise that Australia will be joining the ranks of Rogers Canada, Vodafone UK, T-mobile Germany, At&t and O2 UK as a ‘Bold’ carrier. The release dates have been shifting constantly so we will give you a recap of what we currently have gathered through various sources, but as usual take this with a grain of salt.
- July 29 - Rogers business customers
- August 1 - Vodafone UK
- August 4 - T-Mobile Germany
- August 8 - Rogers for general availability
- September 1 or later - AT&T
- In September - O2 (UK)
Update from APC:
Optus is first off the mark, with the Bold available from August 20 on their standard $79 plan (which includes unlimited BlackBerry data and $300 worth of calls and text) for an additional $10 per month on a 24 month contract - in other words, $89/month.
Telstra says it will have the Bold for “$0 upfront to business customers from late September”. However, don’t get too excited — Telstra also pre-announced that it would offer the iPhone on plans as low as $30 a month, but forgot to mention “just as long as you never want to actually use the device.” Given a large number of existing BlackBerry customers would be with Telstra, hopefully it will offer pricing that isn’t in the same fairy-land league as its iPhone pricing.
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