Take this one with a grain of salt but a RIM PR employee has apparently revealed that RIM will only release the BlackBerry 9800 slider in November. Past rumours, while not so precise, had hinted at an earlier late summer or early fall release. On a more positive note, the CrackBerry forum member who spoke to this person also seemed impressed with the 9800:
A few weeks ago I was at my kids event and saw some person sporting a slider….no big deal I thought until I saw him slide it and saw the BB Logo….I asked him it that was the new BB Slider and he yep. Played with it a few, it was running 6.0. No idea what build. He basically said this would be out in November. I asked how he had and he is in public relations for RIM here in Chicago. I was a huge BB fanboy and if I had not gone Android, I would be creaming. The UI was nice, very smooth and FRIGGIN Fast. Again, I mean no disrespect, I can not answer any questions, just here to say those that are staying BB will definitely enjoy.
Was going to post this weeks ago, but had no proof, and well even with my post count, some would be skeptical. However, weeks later we were together at an “event” taking pictures of our kids after wining a “game” and just saw that I had a pic of it.
It is very small, feels very solid, and again if I had not experienced Android I’d want this phone.
RIM has recently hinted that at least two new devices could be out in the summer quarter. BlackBerry 6, the latest version of RIM’s mobile OS, is also due in Q3. Hopefully these two hints contradict this rumour.