Sprint announced late Thursday evening that it has pushed back the launch of RIM’s newest Curve, the BlackBerry Curve 9350, until some time in October. The carrier said previously that it would release the Curve 9350 on September 9th starting at $49.99 on contract. Sprint gave no reason for the delay, citing only “unexpected circumstances” in its statement on the matter. RIM’s Curve series of smartphones has been crucial to the Waterloo, Ontario-based vendor’s success to date. Offering RIM’s full suite of popular PIM services in an affordable package, Curve handsets are common choices for prepaid customers and enterprise customers making fleet purchases. BGR exclusively revealed RIM’s new Curve back in January and the handset was thought to be slated for a release earlier this year, suggesting this might not be the first time its release is being delayed. Sprint’s full statement follows below.
Due to unexpected circumstances, Sprint shifted the launch of the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350 smartphone beyond the planned Sept. 9 availability date. It will now go on sale in October with a specific availability date shared at a later time.
The next generation of Research In Motion’s (RIM) popular BlackBerry Curve series of smartphones, BlackBerry Curve 9350, offers the latest BlackBerry operating system – BlackBerry® 7. It is a fast, affordable, easy-to-use, full-featured and socially connected smartphone.
BlackBerry Curve 9350 offers a full QWERTY keyboard and trackpad for easy one-handed navigation and keeps users connected by allowing them to easily share moments through pictures and videos via MMS, as well as by instant message with world-class IM services like BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger). With easy access to social networking sites like Flickr®, MySpace and Facebook®, this smartphone provides smooth integration to keep users up to speed on what’s happening in their personal and professional lives.
Key features include:
- BlackBerry App World™, the official app store front for BlackBerry smartphones offering customization, fun and productivity
- Near Field Communications (NFC) support for a secure exchange of information between NFC-enabled devices over a very short distance
- 5MP camera with HD video capture, flash and zoom
- 512MB RAM
- 2GB microSD card included, with support for up to 32GB microSD card
- BlackBerry PlayBook support with BlackBerry Bridge™ (BlackBerry Bridge is available as a free download on BlackBerry App World)
- DataViz Docs To Go® Premium suite preloaded, for editing Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files from anywhere
- Wi-Fi® (802.11 b/g/n)
- Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR support
