It was mentioned in one of our whispers and now it’s here: Verizon has released a Push-To-Talk application for its fleet of BlackBerry smartphones. Free to download but requiring a monthly fee of $5 to use, Verizon’s BlackBerry PTT app allows for unlimited nation-wide calls to other PTT devices. Other key features include:

• Make group calls with up to 50 participants.
• Use Presence to see who’s available for Push to Talk calls.
• Manage Push to Talk contacts for your entire company online.
• Access email and the Web while you’re on Push to Talk calls.

For the price, we’d say it’s definitely a good deal if you have a lot of family/friends/co-workers that have a PTT capable device, but for everyone else it’s $5 that could better be spent on a pint. Now if only this app were released alongside OS 5.0…

Thanks, to everyone that sent this in!

Read

Verizon seems to be planning on expanding its prepaid line-up and options for current and would-be customers by throwing BlackBerry into the mix. Word is that within the next three months, prepaid BlackBerry plans will become available, though we’re not sure if all devices would be included. Rumor is that the plan adds $35 on top of the voice package, which isn’t so bad when compared to other carriers and most post-paid plans. We’ve also received word that the prepaid bundles would match Verizon’s older ones, and that phones would run somewhere between the subsidized price and full retail cost. We’ll be sure to keep you guys updated on this as news comes our way!

Read

Verizon Storm users have reason to celebrate tonight because they’re part of a very special user base — the first BlackBerry users to recieve BlackBerry OS 5.0. We’ve already gone over the benefits of OS 5.0 a whole bunch, so all there is left for us to do is tell you how to get the goods. Either fire up BlackBerry Desktop Manager for PC or Mac and accept the prompt to update your handheld, or visit www.verizonwireless.com/storm. We’re just in the process of updating our 9530, but in the meantime, what does everyone that has it loaded up think? Has OS 5.0 made the first-gen Storm the phone it should have been one year ago, or is it just polishing a turd since the BlackBerry 9550 is just around the corner?

While the launch of the BlackBerry Storm2 on Verizon is widely expected to take place on October 28th and the Bold 9700 is so close we can almost taste it, owners of current generation BlackBerry smartphones  — the Pearl Flip 8220/8230, Curve 8330/8350i/8900, Bold 9000, Storm 9500/9530 and Tour 9630 — should be pleased to note that RIM is all set for the launch OS 5.0. Specific dates aren’t easily pinned down as it more or less depends on the device one has and the carrier one is with, but thanks to our connects we know, for example, that Verizon will be dropping for the OS 5.0 for the Storm 9530 tomorrow evening with a fall back date set for Monday. Those that don’t have Desktop Manager set up on either their PC or Mac might want to get everything ready ahead of time as it looks for the most part that OTA software updates will not be made available. Oh well. OS 5.0 is oh so worth the hassle.

It’s only a small matter of time now before the BlackBerry Storm 2 officially hits the streets, but Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has been seen flaunting the goods a little early in New York City. Apparently, McAdam has been carrying the device for weeks now and feeling it out. To put it to the test, he showed it to some NYU students and it was well-received according to the New York Times:

“I let them play with the second-generation Storm device,” he said. “They came back and said ‘Oh, my gosh.’ They were very excited. This is what they hoped the original Storm should be.”

The first Storm didn’t do as well as RIM and Verizon were hoping (we’re not talking sales, we’re really talking about people’s impressions), so fingers are crossed at both camps for the Storm 2. Unfortunately, there is no actual opinion on the device itself from McAdam, who has been spending the past few weeks with the device looking for glimpses of promise or any signs that it might do better than the first. It’s up in the air for now, but one thing is for certain: with McAdam strutting around with a Storm 2 in his hands, it can’t be that much longer until you nab yours, too.

Read

It seems like only yesterday that Verizon gave the general public a first taste of the BlackBerry Storm, RIM’s first and currently only touchscreen phone. If you’re a late adopter, we have awesome news for you: Verizon has reduced the price of a brand spankin’ new Storm to just $49.99 on a 2-year contract. Oh, and the latest buy-one-get-one-free deal we scooped is still going on, too. So what’s with all the BlackBerry deals intended to clear store shelves? At this point it seems pretty obvious but if you’re a bit slow on the uptake, allow us to spell it out for you. Yeah, you read our minds.

[Via PhoneArena]

Read

In case you still need convincing that a new Storm is on the horizon and Big Red-bound, Verizon just initiated a price drop for the BlackBerry Storm 9530 once again. This time, the clickable touchsreen-touting handset lands at $99.99 on a 2-year deal. Come to think of it, we’re pretty sure the Tour being $199.99 has more to do with the Storm’s price drop than Verizon’s hopes of gradually burning through inventory over the next few months until the Storm 2 drops, but that’s beside the point. Bottom line: the cheapest BlackBerry ever is now actually cheap.

Thanks, VZW!

Read

Wondering what happened to the Storm OS .141 update we said should have dropped late last month? We had heard rumors of some problems with the OS but over the weekend we got word from a trusted ninja that the much anticipated OS .141 has failed Verizon Wireless’ testing. Oh. No. Too many glitches remain, so this update is supposedly dead in the water. There is no word yet on a new OS version nor any expected release date for a future update. The big question now is what RIM and Verizon will do with the Storm. Will we see another 4.7 version go through testing, will both companies ditch 4.7 and roll out an OS 5.0 update or will development on the Storm be shelved in lieu of the rumored Storm 2? In any case, at this point we really better start to see some movement soon.

Day two of WES 2009 has come and gone and with its passing we have a few bits and pieces of BlackBerry news to report. While a lot of people were tired from a long night of eating free food and drinking free booze as will.i.am performed on stage, the symposium continued on Wednesday though there really wasn’t much in the way of announcements from companies. Nonetheless, we’re here on location and there’s more to report so hit the jump for the skinny.

Because the Bold is old news on AT&T, we didn’t bother to look at it yesterday as we instead focused our attention on the Curve 8900. Turns out that wasn’t the best move on our part because when looking at it today we noticed that it was running OS 5.0.0.93. Now we all know that OS 5.0 was a long time coming, but to this date RIM has been playing it really close to its chest and has declined to comment on it. Funny thing is that it’s proudly on display right under its nose at its own show, albeit loaded on only one of four Bolds the company was showing off. The case was exactly the same with one of the three 8900s which explains how we missed this yesterday.

Also making an appearance was OS 4.7.0.141 on a Verizon 9530 Storm. It was leaked a while ago so a lot of people are familiar with it, but we do have to say that we’re impressed with how much better the Storm performs with the latest OS builds. Anyway, this was a Verizon branded 9530 but it was RIM itself that had it on display. At least in this instance the company was open about the fact that it’s beta and should be coming out very soon.

Since BlackBerry App World is just over a month old, a lot of new apps appeared at WES in addition to some oldies but goodies that have received considerable updates. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the most talked about apps:

Xobni officially announced that it’s taking the company’s outstanding Outlook plug-in mobile for BlackBerry devices. While it’s being extremely secretive as to what Xobni Mobile will include, we do have an idea of what it looks like thanks in part to a leak less than a week ago. When we stopped by to discuss Xobni Mobile we were met with some pretty stiff resistance and merely directed to the email launch mailing list. To make things worse, Xobni Mobile was not even on display leaving interested onlookers with nothing to see but its Outlook plug-in. Hmm.

Storm users take note: Popular multi-service IM app BeeJive now has finally launched a beta version with you in mind. It’s taken quite a lot of time to get to this point, but we caught up with a few people who were using it on their Storms and we have to say that any Storm user who is looking for a great IM solution is going to be absolutely thrilled with the final product.

Poynt, already an amazing location based services app for movies and yellow page listings, will soon be releasing an update that features reverse number look up through white pages as well as restaurant searches. Utilizing both BlackBerry Maps and Google Maps, Poynt is sure to become even more popular in App World when the update goes live in a few weeks time.

WhitePages Mobile for BlackBerry launched Wednesday and offers, among other things, the ability to import numbers from call logs which makes reverse number look ups a breeze. The app even lets you add a search result to your contact book with the click of the trackball. WhitePages Mobile for BlackBerry runs $6.99 for a six month subscription and is currently available in App World.

Vlingo updated its popular voice-powered application to version 3.0 which adds quite a few new features such as the ability to search the web, exchange text messages with other Vlingo users, dial the phone, update both Facebook and Twitter statuses and launch native and third-party apps through speech. Vlingo 3.0 sells for $17.99 in App World.

Now available in App World is WeatherBug, the popular weather application. Featuring GPS-enabled weather alerts, detailed maps with radar and time-lapse animations from US-based weather cameras, WeatherBug is a bargain at the low, low cost of free.

Read – Xobni Mobile
Read – BeeJive Storm beta
Read – Poynt
Read – WhitePages Mobile for BlackBerry
Read – Vlingo 3.0

We’re not too sure how much truth there is behind this one, but we just got a tip from a Verizon ninja who received an email memo regarding a much needed OS update for the BlackBerry Storm 9530. The memo mentions that OS 4.7.0.141 “is here” and that customers would be receiving alerts during the day telling them to upgrade. We haven’t been able to confirm this yet, but this ninja has proven himself to be a reliable source of VZW information in the past. Oddly, we have yet to come across a leaked copy of OS 4.7.0.141 but we are aware that RIM is already working on OS 4.7.0.201 and greater for the 9530. Perhaps this might be one of those rare instances where a carrier beats the leakers to the punch. We shall see.

According to iSuppli, the cool cats that live to shed insight on the total dollar value of components in electronic devices, RIM’s BlackBerry Storm has about $203 worth of mediocrity jammed into its bulky frame. Want some specifics? $15 for the SurePress screen, $35 for the Qualcomm MSM7600 and $13 for the 3.2 megapixel shooter. $203 might not sound like too much, but it’s significantly more than the $169 of the Bold or the $174 of the iPhone 3G when you consider how many of these things are being churned out. Now we’re not too sure how these three phones would rank if we were to include the money spent on R&D, shipping, packaging, training, patents, etc, etc, into the costs of each handset, but we’re willing to wager that the Storm would be a pretty strong candidate for number one given that RIM shifted its entire focus this year from the Bold to the Storm and has spent vast sums of money on advertising and lavish launch parties. The silver lining? As time goes on RIM will be able to save a lot in production costs considering how many Storms were (allegedly) returned in the infancy of its life cycle thus giving them a vast supply of refurbs. And cue iPhone vs Storm nerd fight part MCCXLIV in the comments.

Read

This one is somewhat dedicated to all of the Canadian men out there. Know how your wife/girlfriend/mother/daughter/sister is always giving you hard time because you shop at the last minute when stores are packed and everything worthwhile is sold out? Don’t worry, because your friends at Telus have got you covered. Apparently the carrier has received a rather large shipment of Storms from RIM which which are filling store shelves across Canada just in time for you to buy one, activate it, send a quick little “and you doubt me?” email to the lovely ladies in your life and then wrap it up and put it under the tree. Just make sure you get that $249.99 purchase pre-authorized by the ole’ ball and chain or else…

Read

Not wanting to be left out of the party, Bell has followed Telus’ lead and announced that it too has released the BlackBerry 9530 Storm in Canada. Available today in the Greater Toronto Area, the Storm will be “widely available at stores” across Canada tomorrow. If you live in a more rural area and prefer to order your phones online, then bell.ca won’t be listing the Storm until tomorrow. As for the cost of the phone, Bell is asking for 3-years and $249.99 in conjunction with a minimum of $45 of voice and data per month. ($5 more per month than Telus requires.) As for the levels of stock that each store will receive, we’re afraid that it’s not a whole lot because Bell has been emailing their most valued customers $50-off coupons for the Storm that are valid for all of January. All things lead us to believe that Bell is doing what Telus is doing — only offering the device to new customers until adequate levels of stock arrive.

Thanks, to everyone that sent this in!

Read

While it goes without saying that the BlackBerry Storm is going to be one of the hottest handsets this holiday season in Canada, Telus wants everyone to know that if they’re planning on either giving or receiving a Telus Storm on Christmas Day that it must be ordered no later than December 17th. A launch date hasn’t been officially announced, but there is a lot of buzz on the interwebs pointing to a release this Friday (the 12th) or Monday (the 15th).

Update: It looks like Telus is soft-launching the Storm because we’re hearing that the full-scale launch has been delayed until January due to RIM’s failure to deliver adequate levels of stock (estimates say Telus has 2,500 units for all of Canada). As a result, those stores with stock will be able to sell the device to new clients only so that Telus will be able to brag about a Stormy Christmas. But since a hell of a lot of people are going to be left out on this one Telus is offering the following promotions:

• $0 LG Dare, $0 Blackberry Pearl, $49 Blackberry Curve
• Promotional pricing is now available on voice plans of $25 or more
• Sweet Deal 25 ($17.50) now eligible for promotional pricing of data devices

Thanks, Dani!

Read

In case you’re one of the squares who hasn’t yet grabbed a leaked copy of OS 4.7.0.75 for the Verizon Storm, you’re going to love this. Rumor has it that Verizon is getting its servers all set to officially unleash an OS update to fix the problems that have become the bane of some users existence (before you flame, no, we’re not hating on the Storm). Rumor has it that the OTA updates will be available in the afternoon followed by computer-based upgrade downloads in the evening. We’ll be sure to update this post if and when the update is ready, but we can tell you that if you prefer to upgrade your OS via Desktop Manager then the update will be available here. Note that OTA upgrades will only work for BIS users as this feature is not supported on BES.

UPDATE: It looks as if the update is now available via OTA and Desktop Manger. Enjoy!

Read