[tintillo]

Got tech support last week from AT&T on what ended up been a hardware issue. Most interesting is that before I could swap the phone, under the terms of the warranty, the tech support person asked me for a clean re-install of 6.0. Yes, I was asked to go to the desktop manager and ask to update to devise software to 6.0. After I insisted that the manager did not give me such option neither the bberry/att site. I was asked to do a clean install of 5.0 on my device. I asked for the link the technician got the 6.0 on her device, and she said that would need to ask for permission and will never get. Is this a sign that AT&T is getting ready to release 6.0 for 9700 or just wishful thinking?

[pvdilf40]

Wishful thinking. If there was a cut of 6.0 for the 9700 it probably would have been mentioned on the BetaYouThanMe forum.

IMHO The 9700 is now the red headed step child of modern smart phones. If you don't believe me, google "qik 9700" and see how long people have been waiting for a version of QIK that will work with the 9700.

I've owned 3 Blackberry's and loved them all but the 9700 will be my last. I'm tired of wishful thining and hope. RIM is lost the smart phone battle to Apple and Google and maybe now even Microsoft. My company now supports iOS and Android for Enterprise access. I have absolutely no reason to ever buy another Blackberry.

[NJBlackBerry]

Right. "Lost the battle"...

[trax95008]

"lost the battle"??? if thats your feeling, then maybe you should switch to one of the "other guys" or should i say, one of the "winners" and leave us loser blackberry users alone. we wont miss you.

and to the OP, ive heard from ATT that they are testing OS6 and it will be available. but my guess would be that it wont be available untill after the 9780 launches. the 9780 is too similar to the 9700, and needs OS6 to set it apart.

[pvdilf40]

Originally Posted by trax95008

"lost the battle"??? if thats your feeling, then maybe you should switch to one of the "other guys" or should i say, one of the "winners" and leave us loser blackberry users alone. we wont miss you.

I think you take things way to personally. I never called you or anyone else on this board a looser.

Be honest for a moment... do you really think that RIM is keeping up with the innovation pace of Apple or Google? Not to mention that 90% of 3rd party app developers are flocking to those platforms.

I'd love for RIM to come back and kick them both in the nads but I just don't see it happening.

[akosnitzky]

There will be an adequate beta and eventual release for 9700. Issue is how will the phone react with the lesser memory? Sort of the 83xx on 5.0

[trax95008]

Originally Posted by pvdilf40

I think you take things way to personally. I never called you or anyone else on this board a looser.

Be honest for a moment... do you really think that RIM is keeping up with the innovation pace of Apple or Google? Not to mention that 90% of 3rd party app developers are flocking to those platforms.

I'd love for RIM to come back and kick them both in the nads but I just don't see it happening.

i dont think that RIM has an obligation to "keep up" with the iphone or android. Blackberry's are purpose built. they weren't meant to be a media machine. they are designed for the business user, and still offer things that the iphone cant. in a way, apple has been playing catchup to RIM. it took them a while to get features that the blackberry had for years. and as far as apps, i think that the blackberry platform has a higher percentage of "practical" apps. you can pick almost any app in the apple app store, and find 1,000 more JUST LIKE IT!!

[Howard S.]

I totally agree with trax95008. I use my phone for business and it's the lifeline of my business. I don't surf the web, or look for trivial 3rd party apps. It does what I need it to do _extremely_ well.

[pvdilf40]

I will say that for e-mail, enterprise needs and security, nothing beats a Blackberry. You're right about that and both Apple and Google have a way to go on those fronts but they are rapidly making progress. For a long time my employer would not even consider iPhone and Android because of security reasons however that just changed 2 months ago. Unfortunately for RIM, MS Win7 Phones are coming out in the next couple of months and the Enterprise niche that RIM has will be undoubtedly be encroached even more. Who better than MS to support exchange and office apps than MS themselves?

I love my 9700... but I would like it be more than just great e-mail client. Being a mobile software developer myself and seeing the vast API advances just in Google's Android platform ( StageFright and Open-GLES2) means that sky is the limit on the type of applications it can support.

If I have to be objective and not just a fanboy and I look at what's going on in the mobile market place, I really just don't see RIM growing (in either sales or market share) and in this business if you are not growing, you're dying. If you don't believe me, just ask the folks at Palm.

[palomartian]

...or the folks at Apple who will eventually be eclipsed by Android? You can sell a lot of hardware even if you're not gaining market share.

[tintillo]

Still the issue is not with RIM on this particular instance, while I should agree that is slow in trying to accomodate to the new market conditions, it is rather with ATT that, like verizon, love to modify OS to accommodate useless stuff. Wonder how boygenious got an 9700 running on OS6 while comparing it with the 9780. See BlackBerry Bold 9780 hands on! « Boy Genius Report

Anyway, looking forward to the OS upgrade, when available, and seriously considering changing my 9700 to the Torch or alternative hardware/os to be ready for when my contract drops dead.

[pvdilf40]

Looks like it's not wishful thinking. Engadget got a hold of a 9700 with OS 6 on it.

BlackBerry 6 shows up on Bold 9700, Pearl 3G -- and we check it out -- Engadget