Yesterday Verizon announced that they would be releasing the new BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330 and, unsurprisingly, today Sprint has said that they, too, will be launching the Curve 3G. The Curve 3G will be available from Sprint beginning on September 26th for $49.99 with a two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate. The device will be available in a chrome-like Graphite Gray or Royal Purple, for those of us who like a splash of color on our handsets. As a reminder, the Curve 3G packs a 2 megapixel camera, 512 MB of flash memory, and will ship with the BlackBerry 5 OS, although the handset is upgradeable to BlackBerry 6. Check out the full press release below.
It's nice to see Sprint announce their new BlackBerry, although we all kind of expected it considering that Verizon and Sprint usually launch their new BlackBerrys around the same time. You may have noticed that Verizon said that they'd be launching the Curve 3G on September 16th, but we have to keep in mind that the carrier said that that date is for business customers and that everyone else would be able to get their hands on a Curve 3G in the coming weeks. Don't worry Sprint customers, you'll be able to get in on the new BlackBerry goodness right around the same time as your CDMA brethren on Big Red!
Popular Series Continues with New BlackBerry Curve 3G from Sprint; Able to be updated to BlackBerry 6
New model of the popular BlackBerry Curve smartphone features a sleek, professional look with a chrome-like finish, textured battery door, more memory and two color options - Graphite Gray and Royal Purple
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sprint (NYSE: S) and Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the upcoming availability of BlackBerry® Curve™ 3G (model 9330), a new addition to the popular BlackBerry Curve family of smartphones. The new model offers Sprint customers a powerful, feature-rich handset at an easily affordable price.
“The BlackBerry Curve series continues to be a tremendous success”
BlackBerry Curve 3G will be available beginning Sunday, Sept. 26, through Sprint’s direct ship sales channels including Business Sales, Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1) and Web sales (www.sprint.com) for $49.99 with a new two-year service agreement, after a $100 mail-in rebate (taxes and surcharges excluded). It will then be available in all remaining Sprint sales channels beginning Sunday, Oct. 10.
The new BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone features a sleek and professional look with its slim and lightweight form factor, textured battery door and a new chrome-like finish in Graphite Gray or Royal Purple. BlackBerry Curve 3G has 512MB Flash memory as well as a MicroSD/SDHC slot that supports up to 32GB memory cards for media storage.
This new smartphone ships with BlackBerry® 5 out of the box and is BlackBerry® 6 ready. BlackBerry 6 is a new operating system for BlackBerry® smartphones that will be available to Sprint BlackBerry Curve 3G customers in 2011. It retains the trusted features that distinguish the BlackBerry brand while delivering a fresh and engaging experience that is both powerful and easy to use. Key enhancements will include a new intuitive user interface, new Social Feeds application, WebKit browser and universal search.
“The BlackBerry Curve series continues to be a tremendous success,” said David Owens, vice president of Marketing for Sprint. “We are excited to offer this new model and then bring the new BlackBerry 6 operating system to it in 2011. BlackBerry Curve 3G offers the same value and form factor our customers have come to expect but it also provides key enhancements to stay productive and entertained with email messaging and the latest multimedia and social media features.”
BlackBerry Curve 3G offers many popular features including:
Convenient trackpad interface with full QWERTY keyboard
2.0 MP camera with support for video recording
Dedicated media keys to play, pause and skip songs
Wi-Fi®: 802-11 B/G and GPS
Visual Voicemail
512MB Flash memory plus a MicroSD/SDHC slot for up to 32GB of media storage, 2GB card included
“The new BlackBerry Curve 3G is an extremely attractive, approachable and affordable handset that provides a perfect choice for Sprint customers who are looking for a user-friendly 3G smartphone to help them make the most of their day,” said David J. Smith, vice president of Product Management, Research In Motion.
The BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone will support a variety of multimedia applications, including Sprint Music Store™, Sprint TV™ and Pandora™. It also boasts dedicated applications for a smoothly integrated social networking experience with Facebook®, MySpace™ and Flickr™.
BlackBerry Curve 3G requires activation on an Everything Data plan or a Business Advantage Messaging and Data plan. Additional plan options are available for business customers. Sprint's industry-leading Everything Data plans with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM include unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from every mobile in America while on the Sprint network. Everything Data plans start at $69.99 per month – the same price Verizon and AT&T charge for unlimited talk only (all price plans exclude surcharges and taxes).1
With the Sprint Free Guarantee, customers can take advantage of BlackBerry Curve 3G for 30 days. If not completely satisfied, customers may return the smartphone within 30 days to get reimbursed for the handset purchase and activation fee, get both the early termination and restocking fees waived, and receive a full refund for the monthly service plan charges.2
Sprint is the only wireless carrier to offer Ready Now service with trained retail associates to work one-on-one with customers to personalize their BlackBerry Curve 3G, set up features and demonstrate how it works before the customer leaves the store. Customers have the choice of sitting down with a Sprint retail associate at the time of purchase or they can schedule an appointment for a later time at www.sprint.com/storelocator.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 48.1 million customers at the end of the second quarter of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, Common Cents Mobile and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. With its customer-focused strategy, you can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
About Research In Motion (RIM)
Research In Motion is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. RIM’s portfolio of award-winning products, services and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations around the world and include the BlackBerry® wireless platform, the RIM Wireless Handheld™ product line, software development tools, radio-modems and software/hardware licensing agreements. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.
