Okay, scratch that July 20th. stuff - the officially official launch date for Sprint (NYSE: S)’s BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Tour is July 12th., and will cost you $199 on contract and after rebates. We had heard similar pricing and date for Verizon (and presumably Alltel), if Sprint doesn’t really do it for you. Of course, Bell and Telus are also hosting the BlackBerry 9630 if you happen to be north of the border. If you still think you’ll need a reminder when the Tour’s ready roll, be sure to sign up for e-mail updates from Sprint.

[RT @sprint]

The US Census Bureau is getting ready to conduct the most wireless, high-tech census in US history. And, they’ve tapped none other than No. 3 US wireless carrier Sprint (NYSE: S) as the exclusive wireless provider for all their “census-ing” needs. The wirelessly connected Decennial Census will kick off in 2010, and promises to be the most accurate account of the US population in the history of the US Census.

You might recall seeing the HTC Census passing through the FCC, on it’s way to some half million (500,000) Census enumerators. HTC created the HTC Census specifically for the US Census Bureau’s Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) project, which aims to collect and transmit census data back to a central database.

Armed with this EVDO data-only Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC, and integrated GPS, the enumerator’s job of collecting absentee census information will get nice and streamlined. As a high-tech plus, the built-in GPS unit also keeps the enumerator honest.

Makes me wish I had an HTC Census during my stint as a US Census enumerator back in 2000.

[Via: CN]

The QWERTY keyboard is no longer a stranger to iDEN circles. With the introduction of the Motorola Clutch i465, push-to-talk fans now have an affordable QWERTY messaging phone to use with the leading PTT carrier in the US. Following on Boost Mobile’s announcement, Boost’s parent company Sprint (NYSE: S) has today announced the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Clutch i465 as a tough and affordable QWERTY messaging phone for use with Nextel Direct Connect Custom plans.

The Motorola Clutch i465 combines a rugged, yet slim(ish), exterior with a full QWERTY keyboard - the first QWERTY device in the iDEN portfolio. It features a new kind of text messaging service that uses Nextel’s class-leading push-to-talk network. “Group Messaging,” as it’s called, takes advantage of the Nextel Direct network’s strengths - allowing for instant text-communications with a large group.

Sprint says the Motorola Clutch i465 will be available later this Summer for 39.99 with a new two-year service agreement, $20 instant rebate and $50 mail-in rebate. Expect to see the Motorola Clutch hitting all Sprint retail channels.

Register to be notified when the Clutch becomes available on Sprint at this website.

Full press release after the break.

Read the full article »

It’s only a matter of time now… You know, when you start hearing about dummy units and promo materials shipping to stores… it’s only a matter of weeks before the device pops up in-store. This time around I’m talking about the Bell BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Tour 9630, and thanks to BGR’s ‘ninjas’, we’ve got some pictures to backup the claim.

Dummy devices have arrived and promotional materials are all set to go at Bell. Mark your calendars, as the same ninjas put the Bell BlackBerry Tour 9630 available for general consumption on Friday, July 17th.

It’s looking to be a very interesting (and busy) summer surrounding the BlackBerry Tour. The Sprint version could be hitting us by July 20th… Plus, I’ve read rumors that the Verizon edition could be launching the device around the same time as Bell. Finally, Telus is squaring up to launch the Tour on the 15th… Yikes… Did I miss any carriers here?

[Via: BGR]

There’s no doubting that my bud Phil over at PreThinking is in love with his Palm Pre. I always knew it, but this latest exploit simply confirms it. After Phil picked up the matte Touchstone battery door, his glossy cover was of no use to him. To his delight, a reader (@spckeishou) stepped up and offered laser engraving services via the Sprint (NYSE: S) Studio he happens to work at. The rest, as they say, is history.

The results and even a video are all available after the jump >
Read the full article »

When the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Tour 9630 was announced a few weeks ago, Bell, Telus (NYSE: TU) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) availability wasn’t a surprise, but we hadn’t heard a peep about Sprint (NYSE: S)’s involvement. Now they’ve got the teaser page up along with notification sign-up, but nothing about a release date. Luckily, it has been released internally to Sprint that the Tour will be available on July 20th. for $199.99 on contract. At first glance, the Tour is little more than a BlackBerry Bold for CDMA, but a lot of folks have been waiting for just that after being disappointed by the Storm and Pearl Flip. As for the other carriers, Verizon is likely to get the Tour sometime in July, Telus is pretty much locked in for the 15th., and given their prep materials, Bell is probably in the same time frame.

[via just about everywhere]

The gloves are off, and in this case… the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is chewed right down to the core. Looks like Sprint (NYSE: S) is pulling out all the stops to land as many Pre subscriptions as they can. In a new ad (above) you can clearly see that Sprint is taking a few jabs at 1st-gen iPhone users.

‘Your iPhone contract is up… Perfect timing!’

They make a good case. Run multiple apps at the same time, save over $1,000 in two years… plus a solid 3G network with 4G on the way. Why wouldn’t you switch to a Pre… um, right? Might be hard to beat that whole Apple/iPhone loyalty thing though.

Point Sprint. Will AT&T (NYSE: T) and Apple return serve?

[Via: PreThinking]

Take this one with several grains of salt and a side order of wishful thinking, but rumour has it Sprint (NYSE: S) is working on releasing their own version of the recently-announced HTC Hero, only it’ll supposedly be running on WiMAX and CDMA. I seriously doubt this will actually happen, considering Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has gone on record and said that Android isn’t currently good enough for their network, but it’s entirely possible that what HTC was able to do with their Sense UI changed Sprint’s mind. They could certainly use a killer handset like the Hero to justify all the work on the XOHM WiMAX network, that’s for sure.

[via PhoneNews]

According to a new report from Medialets, Palm (NSDQ: PALM) has reached a very important goal. They’ve managed to hit the 1,000,000 app download mark on June 24th… that’s almost 20 days after initial hardware launch. Slow at best, but the progress has been following a smooth upward trend, as more and more folks are able to get their hands on the Palm Pre.

A few days ago Will reported on the Pre App Download numbers to that point. Palm had reached a number just shy of 700,000 this past weekend. In comparison to the numbers reached by the iPhone and the App Store, these numbers certainly pale in comparison (in the first month Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) managed to push over 60 million apps to the iPhone and iPod Touch) … But don’t lose hope yet. It’s not all bad news, in fact, the news for Palm and Sprint (NYSE: S) is looking somewhat optimistic, when you take into consideration the limited number of apps available:

“still comparing at the 1 million mark, the average Palm Pre user had downloaded 26x the number of apps that iPhone users had, and the average app in the App Catalog experienced 16x the number of downloads that apps in the App Store had experienced.”

Palm has shown tremendous support for the developer community, and that’s exactly what they need to do now. Show the developers some love, release the SDK, and help them in any way possible to develop for webOS and the Pre… Before you know it, we’ll start to see more and more apps pop up in the App Catalog… Which is exactly what needs to happen. At the moment, only 30 apps are available for download via App Catalog.

Palm has laid down a nice foundation… Now, can they build something very substantial on-top?

[Via: PreThinking]

What have you done for me lately Sprint (NYSE: S) Telesales? Nothing? Well, if you’re tired of heading down to your local Sprint location in hopes of ordering a Palm Pre, it looks like you can call Sprint’s friendly phone help to order a Pre. This news leaked via Sprint’s Twitter feed, and has been confirmed by multiple calls to the telesales number. It’s true. You can pick up the phone and call 1-866-866-7509 to order your Pre.

However, don’t expect to have your Pre shipped to you right away. There’s still a 5-7 business day delay on new orders. Not great, but not bad either… at least new shipments are coming in on a steady basis.

Now, when can I order online!?

[Via: PreThinking]