FreshPhoneNews.com

Best Buy Mobile’s Holiday Playbook got scooped recently and there’s not only some nice tidbits about what to expect in the coming holiday season, but also what a few clues as to how Best Buy will be working to broaden its bottom line, which means some customers are going to be slightly more pampered than others. For starters, Best Buy has found out;

1. The average store sees over 64,000 customers during October and November
2. Out of those customers, only 1% receive an upgrade eligibility check on their accounts
3. Of the 1% who get upgrade checks, around 30% are actually eligible for upgrades
4. If stores increase the amount of customers checked to 2% from 1%, Best Buy Mobile would see an increase in revenue of around $20,000 for those two months, just off upgrading individuals
5. After customers upgrade their handsets at Best Buy Mobile, around 16% of them come back and make other purchases later

Interesting. So this means all you existing customers can expect some extra Best Buy love. As for new releases for the holiday season, you can expect;

1. Nokia Booklet netbook — October 25th launch, and can be activated on AT&T
2. Sprint HTC Hero — launching October 11th with a presale going on now
3. Sprint Palm Pixi — launch date to be decided (TBD)
4. Verizon Storm II — launch date TBD
5. Verizon Android device — launch date TBD
6. T-Mobile CLIQ — launch date TBD (but you know that it will be shipping after October 19th up until general release November 2nd)
7. “New BlackBerry devices across multiple carriers” — launch date TBD
8. There will be a “host of devices launch in late October and November for all carriers.” Multiple Android launches across multiple carriers and “new technology which doesn’t exist today.”

So there you have it, an early gist of the coming holiday spirit from Best Buy mobile.

via

Good news for BlackBerry Internet Service users in the North American region, BIS 2.8 has totally landed. BIS 2.8 will give non-enterprise users functionality they’ve longing for ages. Key improvements include;

• Two-way wireless synchronization [every four hours] with Google Mail Contacts and the Address Book on the BlackBerry smart phone:
  • Synchronize Google Mail contacts quickly and easily to the BlackBerry smart phone.
  • Add or edit Contacts and the Contacts are automatically updated, whether they are updated on the computer or BlackBerry smart phone.
  • Note: Two-way wireless Contact synchronization with Google Mail Contacts requires BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 and configuration through email settings on the BlackBerry smart phone.  Additional requirements and constraints may be found within the BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8 Documentation Kit. This feature is not supported on BlackBerry smart phones with BlackBerry® Connect™ software.

• Enhancements to email setup and settings:
  • Automatic Login now supports most billing identifiers, which allows new subscribers with wireless service providers that use PIN, IMEI, or ESN as a billing identifier to create BlackBerry Internet Service accounts from the BlackBerry smart phone, without having to create a login user name and password
  • Note: This feature will be available approximately one week after the BlackBerry Internet Service upgrade.

• Windows Live Hotmail revalidation:
  • With BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8, new Windows Live Hotmail mail integrations will be defaulted to a protocol that is designed so as not to require 90 day reauthorization.
  • Note: Existing BlackBerry smart phone users accessing Windows Live Hotmail using Microsoft MSP will still be required to revalidate their Windows Live Hotmail account every 90 days.

Pretty decent, RIM can definitely pat itself on the back for this one.

Bell is going to make you Canadians take a new BlackBerry whether you want it or not. As you can see in these leaked images of Bell’s inventory system the BlackBerry 8530 is headed your way. The price you see is the full retail price, $499, and doesn’t show what you’d be paying on a service agreement, but it sure will be less than $500. Also, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is seen here too, quietly idling away the time till Bell sees it fit to announce to the world. Considering that the world knows already, that announcement may be soon too.

via

A leaked inventory system screenshot from Best Buy has revealed that Verizon Wireless is well on its way to getting the BlackBerry Storm 2 as early as this month. How do you all feel about an October 25th release date? Additional inside info has it that the retail price for the Strom 2 will be $599 on Best Buy. This also means that an official announcement is near, very near.

via

After the painful wait that lasted a year, the official TiVo app for the BlackBerry has been released to the world by RIM. The new app will allow BlackBerry users with a TiVo setup box to view their program guide and remotely schedule recording their favorite shows, all from their little ‘Berry. The app doesn’t carry the full force of TiVo since you can’t really watch the shows you record. Pretty sad, considering that an app taking a whole year to come around still doesn’t have that luxury. You’ll just have to watch all your TV shows on the good ole’ tube. The screen shots courtesy of BGR show that the app is at lease nicely detailed.

Well looky what we have here. According to BGR, an anonymous tipster sent some inventory screenshots from AT&T lockers their way and the documents reveal that a very white BlackBerry Bold is stewing in the system. Not just this, there are also screenshots that reveal the BlackBerry 9700 on board as well. The BlackBerry 9700 was the flagship device from RIM that hasn’t been officially announced yet, but some blogs have had a taste of the action. It is RIM’s most advanced QWERTY device yet. The gorgeous looking 9700 takes its styling cues from the 9520/9550. So yeah, people have reason to suffer from AT&T-envy at the moment.

via

All right all you Alltel subscribers left stranded in divested markets, wishing all evilness on your Verizon-owned counterparts, rest the conspiracies and dry your teary eyes; say hello to the BlackBerry Tour. That’s right Alltel has proudly announced that the BlackBerry Tour 9630 is all set to go. The Tour is available immediately in Alltel stores and online for $199 on a 1-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate (insert applause here for a 2-year contract price on a 1-year contract period). You will have to pick up a Smart Choice plan that will run $69.99 and upward. The Tour is nicely compatible with Alltel’s My Circle calling feature too. Congratulations.

via

While we went through July waiting for the launch of the Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and were sadly disappointed, August brought happier tidings. The Google Apps Connector for BES is officially ‘in da house’. Free to Google Apps Premier and Education Edition users, Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server allows Google Apps to integrate with BES while eliminating the need for Exchange. Highlights include;

• Messages sent to your Gmail inbox are pushed to your BlackBerry within 60 seconds.
• Emails read/deleted on your BlackBerry are marked as read/deleted in Gmail, and vice-versa.
• Emails archived/starred on your BlackBerry are archived/starred in Gmail, and vice-versa.
• BlackBerry folders are synchronized with labels in Gmail.
• You can search for contact information of coworkers from the global address list on your BlackBerry.
• Contacts in Gmail are automatically synchronized with your BlackBerry address book.
• You can view your Google Calendar schedule with the native BlackBerry application, with one-way synchronization from Google Calendar to your BlackBerry device. Two-way calendar sync with the ability to accept, decline and schedule meetings from your BlackBerry device is not available with this release but we are working on it.
• Administrators can use the management and security tools that are part of BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Okay, the no 2-way calendar sync is a major bummer, but still this is a pretty solid solution for Enterprise users. Let’s see how it fares against Microsoft’s Exchange though.

via

News and rumors about RIM’s upcoming web browser have been up and around. The latest and soundest of these has it that RIM is planning on putting full Flash integration and Silverlight support on its new browser. That’s right, no tricks, for-real full Flash support, not crummy Flash lite. Of course the time line for when you can get your hands on this browser isn’t a short one. for RIM ‘planning’ means something that takes a year to implement, and we are looking at a possible release near summer next year. There’s no denying RIM needs the faster and better equipped ‘Berrys to capitalize on HSPA and LTE that carriers are working to strengthen.

The latest ‘Berry rumor has it that the BlackBerry Tour is getting an OS update, and soon.  The update will be OS 4.7.1.42 with both Sprint and Verizon getting in on the action. While the rumored update won’t make you Tour fit for space travel, it will hopefully fix a number of glitches (slow boot up, trackball type-lag, etc). That’s all folks.