Break out the champagne because the BlackBerry 8220 Pearl Flip has officially gone on sale in Italy. The first clamshell device from Waterloo is being sold for relatively competitive price of 269 € ($372 USD). It’s also currently offered in any color you want as long as it’s black. The only question now is what self-respecting Italian would buy such a device? It’s certainly not those hipsters who wear Diesel jeans, D&G shirts, drive tricked-out Fiat Punto’s, and listen to Duran Duran.

Here’s a breakdown of the specs from TIM’s website.

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi
• 128MB internal flash memory, 1GB microSD card
• OS 4.6
• 900 mAh battery w/ 240 minute talk-time and 336 hours of stand-by
• 240 x 320 internal display, 128 x 160 external display
• 2.0 megapixel camera with flash, zoom, and viedo recording
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP/AVCRP , microUSB
• Integrated modem for tethering
• 100 x 50 x 17.5 mm, 102g

Thanks, Joe!

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How fantastic is this? According to BB World, the BlackBerry 9000 aka BlackBerry BOLD will be making its way to Telecom Italia Mobile during the second week of July. It will also carry a hefty price tag; 450€ – 500€ in fact. That’s not the fantastic part though. According to their sources, the long awaited 9000 series debut will be marketed as the “BlackBerry GOLDFINGER” by TIM. The rebranding still has “rumor status” and we’re not entirely sure that TIM would do something like that, but we definitely think they should go for it. In fact, if they market the upcoming BlackBerry Thunder as the “BlackBerry Octopussy”, we’re moving to Italy. Note that the read links are in Italian.

[Thanks Stefano]

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