Last September, I predicted that after the BlackBerry Pearl debuted on T-Mobile, that the carrier would drop their prices on legacy models with the same form factor.
If anything, I underestimated how much Tmo would do so.
There's one thing dropping prices on legacy models. Facilitating enough rebates so that purchasers will actually make money purchasing these devices is something else.
This comes to light in a current Amazon-T-Mobile promotion for the BlackBerry 7105t.
Buy one, sign up, and between the rebates you'll get instantly and the ones you'll get after several months of being nice and paying your bills on time, you'll be $74.99 richer.
iotum Talk-Now for Blackberry is a service that lets you share your availability to talk with others. It's designed to eliminate "telephone tag", by letting people actually view the availability of the people they need to speak with.
Iotum Talk-Now can:
Show at a glance the availability of your preferred contacts.
Notify you when a contact becomes available to talk.
Share your person-to-person availability to let people know the best time to reach you. This availability will be shared when a user adds you to his Talk-Now list or when you notify a contact to return your call.
Your availability to take a call from a specific contact is defined by iotum based on:
What you are doing (calendar, presence on BlackBerry)
Your preferences: set up when you are available or not for a call; apply different priorities and preferences to different contacts or groups of contacts.
Who is requesting the information.
Iotum is currently running the service as a limited technology preview. Amongst other things that means it's likely to have a few bugs, and it's a little heavy on data usage (expect 10M or more per month), which we are working to correct. But it works, and doesn't seem to be buggy.
Iotum's CEO emailed me this afternoon to tell me they are looking for up to 500 Blackberry users to play with what Iotum says "is the next revolutionary idea in mobile presence. To get your Talk-Now account, visit www.iotum.com/blackberry.
A little more than an hour from now, we'll learn what CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) viewers regard as the Greatest Canadian Invention.
Suffice to say that the BlackBerry is on the list.
Mike Lazaridis will join some 20 other Canadians in presenting his own choice.
I realize that many if not most of you readers don't have ready access to this tv show. Still, you do have access to the CBC Web site. Check the link below for updates.
Steve at BlackBerry Cool tells us they are giving away a GPS puck for the winning entry for the winning entrant in a short essay to pick the biggest BlackBerry news story of the year.
I'd select the Pearl. Radical broadening of BlackBerry devices to the consumer market- even though Research In Motion declines to admit that the Pearl is primarily a consumer device.
ABCNEWS.com is planning a feature on BlackBerry/CrackBerry addicts.
Not only that, but that could mean you.
"Is your husband or wife addicted to their BlackBerry?," ABCNEWS.com asks on a website page especially created for the topic. "Are your kids hiding it so they can have mommy or daddy's full attention? If so, we want to hear from you! "
If you think that sounds like a familiar situation, ABCNEWS is asking you to fill out a form with relevant info.
The form is on the ABCNEWS web page you get when you click the Read prompt below this post.
With Cingular's BlackBerry Pearl coming out tomorrow, here's what we are going to do.
I invite readers who have either a Cingular Pearl or T-Mo Pearl, and know someone with the other Pearl, to take a photo of an identical location at the identical time with both devices.
In short, you shoot the scene- any scene- with your Cingy, your friend or whoever, shoots the sunset at the same time with h/her T-Mo.
Then you will email each of these photos to me at: russjourn@gmail.com. And then...
I have to wonder if there is some sort of connection between the Cingular Free Camera Phone promotion I just got emailed about, and the fact that Cingular is putting their version of the camera-equipped BlackBerry Pearl on sale tomorrow.
If I am Cingular, I am thinking that because there is likely to be such a rush on the Pearl, I might want to create pricing incentives for other camera phones that I sell.
Incentivize these devices rather than run the risk of having them overshadowed by the marketing blitz and then have them sit around for the holidays?
Well, maybe. Cingular is hard to read. But still, why did they send me this promo when I am not even a Cingular customer?
This campaign basically consists of automobiles with BlackBerry Pearl signage driving around London and stopping at special events where the Pearl is being marketed and demonstrated (as if there's a distinction between the two).
These "BlackBerry On The Move" events, as well as the Pearl itself, is being marketed by some pretty cool signage as well.
I've already shown you one of the cars with "BlackBerry Pearl" signage. And no, I didn't Photoshop this.
Now let us look at another example of motorized marketing, as well as a poster about this campaign.
Second, you need to sign up with Rogers for a three-year plan.
Third, you have to be one of the first 50 people per day to show your face at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ontario on these days:
Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sun Dec 03, 2006 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
If you do the click-y just below I will show you this offer and also let technology from our peeps at MapQuest illustrate where the International Centre (I just love typing Centre rather than Center) is:
This morning, CNET Asia reports they've just received an invite from BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion for a launch event in Singapore on November 30.
That would be a week from tomorrow.
The invite shows no pricing or operator info, but CNET says they are expecting that full details will be available in the press release that will be distributed at the event.
And since launch events usually occur the day of, or the day immediately preceding, formal product launches, looks like Singapore will get their BlackBerry Pearl by December 1.
Surfing the web today I came across this very happy lady, Beverly Mitchell. She bowled a strike in a fund raiser held at The Grove in Los Angeles this past weekend.
T-Mobile BlackBerry Pearl raised $25,000.00 at the bowling fund raiser this weekend for Make-A-Wish of greater Los Angeles.
Glad to see BlackBerry and T-Mobile are getting into the holiday spirit.
Now if only I could bowl as well as Beverly I might be helpful at a fund raiser like this.
This promotion, however, appears to be limited to UK users. Promo is being distributed by Local London, a collection of websites from 40 neighborhood newspapers in and around (you only get one guess where)- London.
You log on to ask.com and answer the following question:
Which website has Local London teamed up with to give away a BlackBerry Pearl?
Our friends at BlackBerry Cool are running a 10-license promotion for 
This morning, CNET Asia reports they've just received an invite from BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion for a launch event in Singapore on November 30.
Surfing the web today I came across this very happy lady, Beverly Mitchell. She bowled a strike in a fund raiser held at The Grove in Los Angeles this past weekend.
