BB 9800 may not ship for longer than thought

A purported sighting of the upcoming BlackBerry 9800 in Chicago has hinted the phone might not ship until the fall. In a recent conversation with what's said to be a PR agent for RIM in Chicago, a CrackBerry forum member claims to have both had brief hands-on time with the touchscreen slider as well as to have been told the phone will only be ready by November, or considerably later than the widely rumored late summer target. The eyewitness describes it as small and well-built, and that he would buy one had he "not experienced Android."

A photo accompanying the anecdote appears to confirm the evidence, although he noted that it was taken weeks later. The site itself did note that it hasn't seen pre-release hardware at a Halifax, Nova Scotia call center, usually a giveaway that a device is close to launch.

The claims are unconfirmed and somewhat contradict hints dropped by RIM co-chief Jim Balsillie, who in his most recent fiscal results call alluded to a pair of devices impacting the summer quarter ending in August. BlackBerry OS 6.0 should also arrive in the summer.

While a strong chance exists that some of the details are inaccurate, the slip could refer to a different carrier than AT&T, which many believe will be the launch partner. If an AT&T exclusive, though, the 9800 shipping in November would give a large window to both Apple and Google to garner customers without a significantly updated touchscreen.

By Electronista Staff