U.K. carrier suspends sale of BlackBerry Bold: report
Telecommunications service provider Orange in the U.K. has reportedly suspended shipment of Research in Motion's BlackBerry Bold phone due to undisclosed software issues.
The report of the delay first appeared Thursday on the technology website Mobile Tech Addicts, which had obtained what it said was an internal Orange statement.
The statement, provided by an anonymous tipster to the website, said the telecommunications carrier is reportedly awaiting a fix of the issue from Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM before the device goes on sale, a process they said would take a couple of weeks.
Orange UK's website lists the BlackBerry Bold 9000 as "out of stock."
A joint statement on Friday from RIM and Orange UK did not address whether Orange had suspended sales of the device, but did confirm the two companies are working to address concerns relating to the device's third-generation mobile network capabilities.
"Although the reported 3G concerns have been limited to a minority of Orange customers in the U.K., Orange UK and RIM both take customer concerns very seriously and felt it was prudent to introduce a maintenance release of software for Orange UK customers at this time," they said in a statement.
"Orange UK and RIM apologize to customers for any inconvenience and expect to provide a software maintenance release soon," they said.
RIM launched the BlackBerry Bold in the summer in many countries, including Canada. The device, available in Canada through Rogers Wireless and Rogers' sister-brand Fido, was the first BlackBerry to provide access to faster third-generation cellular networks.
No release date has been issued for the United States, an important market for RIM's BlackBerry devices.
Rogers spokesperson Liz Hamilton said that while there have been the usual software upgrades for the device since Rogers began selling it in August, there haven't been significant issues in Canada.
"If there were any issues with the device, Rogers customers can be sure we would let them know," she said.
On Wednesday, RIM announced another new smart phone, the BlackBerry Storm, the first phone from the company to feature a touch screen instead of a physical keyboard.
Both the Bold and the Storm, which features a novel touch screen that clicks like a keyboard as users type, are expected to compete in the business and consumer market with Apple's iPhone.
RIM said the Storm is expected to be released in the fall, though no date has been announced. In Canada, Bell and Telus will be the wireless carriers offering the device.
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