Back in November, 2005, I wrote several posts chronicling the massive retail and direct distribution confusion Cingular Wireless had been experiencing with relation to their then-new BlackBerry 8700c. Some stores had them, others didn't, and incredibly, retail employees didn't seem to be in the loop.

Then, a couple of months ago, I described another type of confusion at Sprint- the fact that a year after the merger with Nextel, both BlackBerry carriers still maintained separate inventory and billing systems unintelligible to retail employees trying to sell you a BlackBerry.

My point in dredging up these issues is to contrast the relative orderliness and discipline of T-Mobile in rolling out the Pearl. I mean, most T-Mobile stores received their Pearl more or less on time, and the device's official retail availability wasn't greeted with either "huh," or "yes, we've ordered some, they will be here soon."

For the record, Verizon Wireless stores seem to be pretty much on board with the BlackBerry 8703e launch. They should be available at the stores in early October, but there has been some pricing confusion on the Verizon Wireless site.

Makes you wonder why some BlackBerry carriers have their act together at retail, while others are disorganized. No great mystery, though. Some carriers run tighter ships, and pay as much attention to their retail distribution channels as to their most favored national accounts.

Summing up: when it comes to BlackBerry retail distribution, T-Mobile "gets it," Verizon Wireless sort of gets it, Cingular and SprintNextel do not.