This isn’t exactly shocking news, but we thought we would share anyway. BBLeaks is reporting that Verizon Wireless will give the BlackBerry Storm 2 9550 and the BlackBerry Curve 8530 their end-of-life papers on August 15th and August 1st respectively. The move comes as Verizon makes room in its inventory for newer BlackBerry devices; BBLeaks reports that replacements for the 9550 and 8530 are due out in Q3/Q4 (which is a pretty large 6-month window). The 8530 is likely going to be replaced by the 930...

Man, news on RIM has been quiet as of late. And why wouldn’t it? RIM has some interesting products coming up, but let’s not beat around the bush — they can not really compare to the mind-blowing devices that have just been released. From the simply amazing iPhone 4, to the incredible Incredible, to the super-large super-capable Droid X, it’s hard being a mid-range player with a mildly dated operating system. With that said, we’d like to officially welcome the BlackBerry Curve 930...

This is more like it, a little something new and different for the legions of BlackBerry faithful. Salomondrin has gotten his hands on three, count em’ three, unreleased BlackBerrys from Research in Motion. The first — and probably the least exciting of the bunch — is the BlackBerry Curve 9300, the second is the BlackBerry 9670 flip phone (older model), and the third is the BlackBerry 9800 slider (with BlackBerry OS 6). All three handsets get a solid pawing on video. Grab your popcorn and hi...

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 Ver...

Looks like AT&T is adding a few new handsets to its lineup for the holiday buying season as today, Ma’ Bell announced it will be carrying the BlackBerry 8520 and the new LG Shine II, all now added to its “best in the world smartphone lineup.” The Shine II is a 3G slider phone with a 2.2″ screen, stereo Bluetooth, Java 2.0, and a November 22nd release date. The Shine Part Deux will also set you back $119 with a 2-year commitment. Switching gears, the more familiar BlackBerry 8520 wi...

Before you get too excited, sometimes Best Buy simply inputs incorrect dates into their systems when loading SKUs. What is incredibly interesting, besides the fact they’ve gone through the trouble to conceal these product names, is that in our leaked Holiday Playbook, Best Buy mentioned that October 25th would be a “key date for handsets entering our assortment.” Sounds pretty nice, right? We’ve been told the price range for the five handsets in here (full retail Best Buy pricing) is $...

If you’ve been wondering whether the Motorola Droid (or Tao, or Sholes — whatever), BlackBerry Storm 2, BlackBerry Curve 2 or LG Chocolate Touch would be hitting Sam’s Club stores or even TARGET, you’re in luck. We just scored an internal document outlining merchandising, training, locations, and pretty much everything else you’d need to know. While Sam’s Club appears to be set up to carry the Motorola Android handset, TARGET seems to be left out. We won’t bore you wi...

We just got hit with a nice outline of some of Verizon Wireless’ upcoming handset release dates, and boy do they look appetizing. First up is the Motorola Sholes, a phone most of us assumed wouldn’t be launching until very late in the year. According to the information we obtained, it looks as if we could see that handset hit Verizon as early as October. See that Nokia Twist 7705? Any bets what that will be? Our sheet shows it landing on VZW in late September with an estimated $230 subsidized pric...