Well, folks, I have now confirmed that the Black Friday release is definitely NOT happening!
A friend and former co-worker of mine currently works for T-Mobile at one of their corporate-owned stores in the Baltimore, MD area. He has been in the cell phone industry for about 15 years and he's real good about letting me know the latest info on new phone releases, per his internal company emails.
I just talked to him today and currently, T-Mobile's sales staff are being told via company communications to expect a release of the BlackBerry 8900 in FIRST QUARTER 2009, which means it could be released anywhere from as early as January 1st, to as late as March 31st, 2009.
This really sucks. I've been eligible for an upgrade for just about a year, and I've been patiently waiting for the Bold to hit T-Mo. Once it was confirmed that it could take another year for that to happen (if it ever happens at all, which it may not), I decided to go for the 8900... which could now be another 4 months in getting to me!