It’s well-known that Circuit City went bankrupt in the US… But up in Canada, InterTAN Canada has been busy operating 765 ‘The Source by Circuit City’ stores. Recently InterTAN let it be known that they had received a number of offers to purchase the stores… and wouldn’t you know it, today news has come out that the folks at Bell have agreed to purchase the retail chain.

Once the no-doubt complicated acquisition is completed by Q3 2009 (that’s the target), The Source will operate separate from Bell… However the stores will supply all of the devices, services and goodies you can find at Bell, including television, home phone and internet products. Solo Mobile and Virgin Mobile may also be available at The Source.

George Cope, President and CEO of Bell and BCE noted the main reason for the acquisition was because ‘it supports Bell’s strategic imperatives to accelerate wireless and leverage momentum in wireline services like Bell TV, Bell Internet and Bell Home Phone’.

Well done Bell, and lets all hope for a smooth and successful acquisition process.

Read the press release over at Bell Canada Enterprises >

[Via: MobileSyrup]

Bell was all smug with its announcement yesterday to bring back SMS Twitter, but the $0.15 charge per incoming and outgoing message left a bitter taste in many a Canadian tweeter. Twitter CEO Biz Stone has cleared up the situation, however, and stated that we’ll be able to get unlimited incoming SMS messages through Twitter on Bell. It’s actually a relatively new thing in Canada to have any charges associated with incoming SMS messages, so it’s nice to see Bell partially returning to the glory days. If Telus (NYSE: TU) was smart, they would follow Bell’s suit; as for Rogers (NYSE: RCI), it sounds like they would charge for incoming text messages from Twitter as well. One way or the other, Bell and Twitter have had some miscommunications over the whole thing, and it might take a week or two before the pricing scheme becomes totally finalized.

[via Twitter Blog]

One more quick Bell announcement to tell you about. Bell has gone all official with the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Pearl Flip 8230 as well. Again, you need to fulfill the minimum voice/data plan requirement. The 8230 is available in the standard black or pink. Purchase options are as follows:

• 3-year: $29.95
• 2-year: $349.95
• 1-year: $449.95
• No-contract: $499.95

Looks like they’re really pushing the 3-year contract, huh? The 3-year pricing is available until March 12th. For more information hit up Bell.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

The day a very select few of you have been waiting for has arrived, Bell has officially launched the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Treo Pro on their network. The device requires a minimum voice/data plan of $45, and is available on one of the following options:

• 3-year: $99.95
• 2-year: $149.95
• 1-year: $249.95
• 30-day/Prepaid: $549.95

The Treo Pro will join the Centro in Bell’s lineup, but it will not be the last. I know many are hoping and praying for the Pre to fly north of the border as soon as it is available in the US.

For more information hit up Bell’s website. At the moment it looks like the pricing details are wrong (strange) but I’m sure they’re on it.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

Some solid Canadian mobile news here. Reports have it that Bell have received their ‘dummy phones’ for the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Treo Pro and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Pearl Flip. They are no doubt gearing up to launch these devices tomorrow.

The Treo Pro is expected to fetch $99.95 on a 3-year term, all the way up to $549.95 on the 30-day/prepaid option. I’m still puzzled why anyone would want to pick up the Treo Pro other than the die-hard Palm addict. The Pre is coming, and should be worth the wait.

The BlackBerry Pearl Flip (8230) is expected to fetch $29.95 on the 3-year term, all the way up to $499.95 if you buy the device outright. A special promotion is also tied into the Flip, as anyone that purchases it will get a redemption card for a free NHL ’skin’ of their choice from bell.decalgirl.com, until June 30th.

Note: As I’m writing this, it looks like Bell is busy updating their website. For some reason the new Palm Treo Pro page is returning some funky pricing results. I’m sure that’ll be fixed shortly.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

Using twitter the old-fashioned SMS way in Canada was getting a tad pricey for the owners, so back in November, they axed outbound tweets by SMS. Luckily, Bell has reintroduced the service, albeit with a 15 cent charge per text tacked on. In the last year, twitter has seen a 900% growth rate - a staggering amount by any means. I wonder though, with increasing adoption in data-capable smartphones, will twitter-by-SMS eventually become outdated, and the 140-character limit simply stay as a relic of the good ol’ days? From a consumer perspective, it’s cheaper to tweet through a data-based application than through SMS, that’s for sure, and clearly Bell can’t handle the extra traffic, resulting in higher costs, which turn off third parties like twitter from using it.

[via Bell]

Yesterday I reported some rough launch dates for a few devices on Bell, including the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Treo Pro, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Pearl Flip, and more.

Today, some visual proof that the Treo Pro and BlackBerry Pearl Flip are indeed coming to Bell. As you can see in the image below, the Palm Treo Pro is set to launch on Thursday, February 26th. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 will also hit Bell (in Pink and Black) on Friday, March 6th.

Word on the street is that the Treo Pro will run you $199.95 on a 3-year deal. No rumored pricing details on the Pearl Flip at this point… But stay tuned for more.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

My bud John over at MobileSyrup got word the other day of some new impending releases over at Bell. The biggest news surrounds the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Treo Pro. It’s due to be released on Bell February 26th. Should run $199.95 on a 3-year term… and of course you’ll need to pick up the mandatory $45 data plan.

A few more devices that are rumored to be hitting Bell in this calendar year:

• BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Niagara (Q2)
• Samsung Omnia (Q2)
• BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 (Q2/Q3)
• Palm Pre (Q2/Q3) <– Woohoo!

I was just in touch with John, and he assures me that his contact over at Bell is almost always on the money. The news here should be spot on. So, we’ll just have to wait until the 26th to see if the Palm Treo Pro does indeed arrive. I have no reason to believe otherwise.

More info will no doubt trickle down on this as days go by. Stay tuned.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

Bell Mobility has officially launched OS 4.5 for the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) 8830 World Edition smartphone. Bell is the first carrier in North America to launch OS 4.5 for the 8830, so drink it up folks!

Some details on the release:

Package Version: 4.5.0.177

Consisting of:

• Applications: 4.5.0.127
• Software Platform: 3.4.0.20
• File name: 8830AMEA_PBr4.5.0_rel177_PL3.4.0.20_A4.5.0.127_Bel l_Mobility.exe
• File size: 81.37MB

It should install and run on your 8830 regardless of what carrier you’re on. But if you DO give it a try, as always, please backup your device and proceed with care. Ready to get started? Click here to download from Bell’s BlackBerry download site.

[BlackBerrySync via BlackBerryForums]

Want to grab yourself the ever-popular BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) 8330 on Bell? If you do, the glory days of the cheap $49.95 device (with contract) appear to be over. The price for this device has been raised to $99.95 on the 3-year deal. Why? Apparently stock is very limited, and Bell staffers are being instructed to sell as many BlackBerry Pearl 8130’s as they can… They must have a whole whack-load of Pearl’s in-stock

With this last-gasp price increase, could it mean the next-gen BlackBerry Curve 8900 is on its way to Bell? Time will tell!

Check out the BlackBerry Curve 8330 on Bell right here.

[Via: MobileSyrup]