BlackBerry Curve 8900 Live On T-Mobile Site; Business Pricing Revealed
is now listed on T-Mobile's site
The carrier, which will be the first to offer the long-awaited Curve 8900, has not yet made it available to pre-order. The site simply lists the device as "coming soon." AT&T also is expected to offer the Curve 8900 sometime soon.
T-Mobile last week officially announced that it will be offering the Curve 8900 sometime in February. The exact date is unclear, but according to several industry watchers, Research In Motion's (RIM) first major BlackBerry release of 2009 will hit stores on Feb. 11.
Currently, it appears the smartphone will run $199.00 with a two-year contract, though T-Mobile has yet to confirm that price. Without a contract, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 could hit about $500.
Business users, however, won't have to wait until next month to get their hands on a Curve 8900. According to gadget blog the Boy Genius Report, T-Mobile plans to release a limited number of Curve 8900s to business customers on Monday, Jan. 19. To take advantage of the deal, buyers must be employees of a company that has a business account with T-Mobile.
Business user pricing for the Curve 8900 is in line with consumer pricing: $499.99 for contract-free devices, $249.99 with a one-year contract and $199.99 with a two-year agreement.
The Curve 8900 packs all the punch of most modern BlackBerrys, though it lacks 3G connectivity. The Curve 8900 is billed as the lightest and thinnest BlackBerry to feature a full QWERTY keyboard, measuring in at just over a half-inch thick. It also offers all of the features and functions BlackBerry users have grown accustomed to, including phone, e-mail, text messaging, browser, instant messaging, document viewing and editing and organizer applications. It also ties in a host of multimedia functions, such as a media player.
The Curve 8900 offers EDGE support with built-in Wi-Fi and GPS, a 512MHz next-generation processor, a 2.4-inch 480-x-360 high-resolution display, a 3.2-megapixel camera and BlackBerry OS version 4.6.