T-Mobile will soon offer a premium BlackBerry device, the Torch 9810, at a premium price, $249 with a two-year contract. That's $200 more than AT&T charges for the Research In Motion smartphone, which it started selling in August.
Emphasizing the traditional appeal of BlackBerry devices to business users, T-Mobile is giving them first crack at the Torch: they can order it today while other customers must wait until Nov. 9. The $249 price is after a $50 mail-in rebate card and with a two-year voice and data contract.
Fast Processor, Fast Data Speed
Compatible with T-Mobile's high speed HSPA+ data network, which the carrier calls 4G, the Torch is powered by the latest-version BlackBerry 7 operating system and packs a 1.2 gigahertz processor, with 3.2-inch TFT VGA capacitive touch-screen display and full QWERTY slide-out keyboard and 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p high-definition video recording. AT&T is not marketing its version of the Torch 9810 as 4G compatible.
The 9810 is an update of the Torch 9800 released in August 2010, which debuted on AT&T a year later. The processor is more powerful than the original 624 megahertz processor of its predecessor and the 768 megabytes of RAM exceed the original 512 megabytes. It also has more storage for apps and media, eight gigabytes instead of four, and ships with the updated operating system.
It comes in one color, a zinc-gray color finish, and the Torch 9810, like all BlackBerry devices, includes access to BlackBerry Messenger, personal and corporate e-mail, and social networking applications and access to BlackBerry App World for premium applications and games.
The offering comes at a time when German-owned T-Mobile is in limbo, waiting to see if federal regulators will approve its merger deal with AT&T. Meanwhile the two companies continue to compete, with the AT&T price for the Torch 9810 an example of the bigger carrier's power to offer better deals because of its large volume of sales.
Canada-based Research In Motion needs as many carriers as it can for its devices, as it struggles to gain back market share it has lost to Apple's iPhone and the arsenal of Android-based devices that seem to come out every week from a multitude of manufacturers and on all major carriers.
'The Real 4G'
T-Mobile also carries the BlackBerry Curve 9360 for $79.99, the Bold 9780 for $109, and Bold 990 4G for $299.
Analyst Gerry Purdy of MobileTrax said 4G speed was a dubious reason to charge more for the Torch 9810 than AT&T.
"It brings us to the question of, will the real 4G please stand up," said Purdy. "There is LTE and HSDPA and enhanced HSDPA+ from AT&T. Each one claims they are faster than the other guy, but it's really a matter of coverage and availability in a given area. They may advertise peak speeds but the actual speed you will realize is much less."
Purdy said that while the Torch 9810 was a premium device, "what T-Mobile needs is to figure out a way to get the iPhone, which will bring them more revenue than another BlackBerry."
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111102/bs_nf/80850
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