AT&T customers will be entering a bold new wireless world with the launch of the BlackBerry Bold™, a breakthrough 3G BlackBerry smartphone that operates on the nation’s fastest 3G network and is the first to support HSDPA networks around the world, including in Japan and Korea. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) (TSX: RIM) announced today that the highly anticipated BlackBerry Bold smartphone will be available in the United States for as low as $299.991 on Tuesday, Nov. 4, in AT&T retail stores nationwide, through http://www.att.com and select national retailers, as well as through AT&T’s business-to-business sales teams.
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone, which is being introduced in the United States only for AT&T customers, can be used in the most countries abroad, including more than 60 with 3G networks. AT&T is the world’s leading provider of BlackBerry services.
Bold Design
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone’s design and performance live up to its name. The elegant smartphone features a lustrous black exterior, satin chrome-finished frame and stylish, leatherette backplate with a stunning half-VGA (480 x 320 at 217 ppi) color display for eye-popping visuals and a newly designed full QWERTY keyboard for exceptionally fast and easy typing. On the inside, the BlackBerry Bold features built-in GPS and Wi-Fi, a powerful new 624 MHz mobile processor that provides impressive performance, more storage memory than ever before — 1 GB on board and up to 16 GB via its microSD/SDHC expansion slot — and a rich set of multimedia capabilities, including an advanced media player for music, videos and photos and a 2 megapixel camera with built-in flash, zoom and video recording, as well as an optimized Web-browsing experience with desktop-style depiction.
“The BlackBerry Bold is the best BlackBerry smartphone ever, backed by the nation’s fastest 3G network and the hands-down best international coverage of any carrier,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility. “The BlackBerry Bold is the complete package, providing customers with an absolutely outstanding mobile experience whether doing e-mail, browsing the Web, viewing streaming video or simply making a phone call. And it is being introduced in the U.S. only from AT&T.”
Mike Lazaridis, president and co-CEO at Research In Motion, said: “The development of the BlackBerry Bold smartphone was an ambitious undertaking, and we focused intensely on the things that are most important to mobile customers when developing this best-in-class smartphone for HSDPA networks around the world. The BlackBerry Bold exudes quality in everything from its stunning display sharpness and incredible keyboard to its premium phone performance and sophisticated software applications. It provides an extraordinary mobile communications and multimedia experience, and we are very proud to introduce this breakthrough smartphone in the United States together with AT&T.”
AT&T Services
In addition to the renowned BlackBerry productivity applications — including phone, e-mail, messaging, organizer and browser — the BlackBerry Bold from AT&T will boast such AT&T services as:
- Simultaneous Voice and Data Capabilities — When connected to AT&T’s 3G network, customers can conduct a phone conversation and at the same time check e-mail, browse the Web or use another data application, including when tethered to a notebook computer.
- AT&T Navigator Global Edition — Powered by TeleNav, the only GPS-based service available from a U.S. wireless carrier to provide international navigation capabilities. AT&T customers can get spoken or text-based turn-by- turn directions with automatic missed turn rerouting and a local business finder service in 20 countries.
- Seamless Wi-Fi — Allows AT&T customers who turn on the BlackBerry Bold smartphone’s Wi-Fi feature — 802.11 a/b/g — to connect automatically to home or campus networks. AT&T customers also will be able to access more than 17,000 AT&T hot spots nationwide, including nearly 7,000 participating Starbucks locations plus thousands more restaurants, airports, hotels and other convenient locations across the U.S.
- CV — CV (Cellular Video) from AT&T gives viewers access to thousands of video clips — news, sports, weather, entertainment and more — directly on a BlackBerry Bold smartphone via streaming video.
- AT&T Mobile Music Services — An industry leader in mobile music, AT&T boasts the largest catalog of offerings available today, giving customers mobile access to enjoy XM Radio Mobile™, song identification through MusicID, music videos through MobiTV and over-the-air access to the extensive music databases of Napster Mobile and eMusic — just to name a few.
AT&T Navigator, CV, AT&T Mobile Music services and more than 90,000 additional choices are available through AT&T MEdia Mall directly from the BlackBerry Bold or online.
E-mail and More
Like all BlackBerry smartphones, the BlackBerry Bold gives users the industry’s leading mobile messaging solution. It works with BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which enables advanced security and IT administration within IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novel GroupWise environments, as well as BlackBerry Professional Software for small businesses. It also works with BlackBerry Internet Service, which gives users push-based access to as many as 10 supported work or personal e-mail accounts. Customers can also download and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files using the preloaded DataViz Documents to Go software suite. Beyond e-mail, the BlackBerry Bold will support a wide range of business and lifestyle applications.
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone includes Bluetooth 2.0, which provides support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits and other Bluetooth peripherals. The included BlackBerry Desktop Manager software comes with Roxio Media Manager for BlackBerry, which includes new features that make it easier to organize multimedia content as well as manage music, videos and recorded Voice Notes between a computer and the smartphone. It also optimizes video files for smooth full-screen playback on the BlackBerry Bold smartphone’s large display with support for full-screen and widescreen formats.
Roxio Photosuite 9 LE is included, allowing customers to easily enhance pictures and create photo albums on their computer. In addition, the new BlackBerry Media Sync application allows customers to sync their iTunes digital musical collections2 with the handset. The BlackBerry Bold also boasts a new acoustic design for enhanced phone listening quality and clarity and numerous premium phone features, including Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD).
AT&T Backed
Backing the BlackBerry Bold smartphone will be AT&T’s 3G BroadbandConnect network, which currently is available in more than 320 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. and, by year-end, AT&T expects to offer the service in nearly 350 leading U.S. markets. In addition to 3G connectivity, the BlackBerry Bold is also designed to connect seamlessly with AT&T’s nationwide3 EDGE network, which is available in more than 13,000 cities and towns and along some 40,000 miles of major highways.
For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit http://www.att.com.
1 With two-year contract and qualified voice and data plans. Other conditions may apply.
2 Certain music files may not be supported, including files that contain digital rights management technologies.
3 Not available in all areas.
