BlackBerry Bold Gets A Black Eye, Delayed Again

Research In Motion's next-generation BlackBerry, the Bold, was announced in May and set for a July launch on AT&T's network. Then it was pushed to August. Now it appears that the new smartphone won't be available until September.New information published by BlackBerryNews.com shows the release date of RIM's latest uber-phone. For those hoping to see an August release of the device here in the United States, woe is you. The best information points to "Sept. 1 or later" for availability on AT&T's network. That's the second delay for the Bold -- a.k.a. BlackBerry 9000.

The initial reason given for delaying the Bold's release from July to August was that it hadn't been certified for use on the AT&T network. Some of the issues undergoing repairs were battery life and system stability. The Bold comes with the latest version of the BlackBerry operating system, which is 4.6.097.

Elsewhere in the world, you can get your hands on the Bold sooner. It will be available tomorrow on the Rogers network in Canada; Aug. 1 on the Vodafone network in the United Kingdom; and Aug. 4 on the T-Mobile network in Germany.

According to AT&T's executives, the only guarantee we have about the Bold's release in the United States is that it will be "before Nov. 1."

From my perspective, with the CTIA Wireless & IT show taking place the week of Sept. 8, RIM has been given the perfect target date to release the phone in the United States. Will it make it?