Smartphone: New Blackberry 8820 From AT&T Hits The ‘Hot Spot' With Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is coming to AT&T's BlackBerry handset customers. AT&T Inc. and Research In Motion (RIM) have announced that the first cellular and Wi-Fi BlackBerry handset — the BlackBerry 8820 — will be available beginning Sept. 20 through the nation's largest wireless provider.
The global Wi-Fi capabilities of the BlackBerry 8820 from AT&T complement AT&T's industry-best domestic and international wide area wireless data coverage. AT&T enterprise customers can use the BlackBerry 8820 with their corporate campus Wi-Fi networks for additional data coverage. Individual customers can use it in their homes and, for an additional charge, at thousands of Wi-Fi locations* throughout the U.S., including any of the 10,000 AT&T-owned or branded hot spot locations in the U.S. Users can also take advantage of tens of thousands of hot spots around the globe through such services as AT&T Wi-Fi roaming.
"The new BlackBerry 8820 builds on AT&T's leading domestic and international coverage footprint by giving customers the ability to link with their company's wireless campus network or access e-mail and browse the Web at Wi-Fi hot spots even in the few countries in which we do not have data roaming agreements," said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president- Marketing and Operations for AT&T's wireless unit. "That makes the BlackBerry 8820 from AT&T an exceptional world phone for global use by business customers and individuals alike."
"The BlackBerry 8820 builds upon the sleek and performance-driven BlackBerry 8800 that has been embraced by business professionals around the world," said Mike Lazaridis, president and co-CEO at RIM. "This powerful new model has been eagerly anticipated by the market, and we are very pleased to be working with AT&T to launch the first cellular and Wi-Fi BlackBerry handset for customers in the U.S."
The BlackBerry 8820 provides support for 802.11a, b and g with enterprise security features, extending the BlackBerry platform to business customers at public hot spots and on wireless local area networks. Customers can use a BlackBerry 8820 to link to their enterprise through home Wi-Fi networks. They also will be able to access broadband services, such as the nation's leading service from AT&T — AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet.
The BlackBerry 8820 adds Wi-Fi capabilities to its industry-leading set of features, which includes extensive call management and premium phone features, built-in Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) — with support for such solutions as TeleNav GPS Navigator™ and TeleNav Track™ — AT&T's Push-to-Talk service, Bluetooth 2.0, built-in media player and a microSD expandable memory slot for music, photo and video storage.
The BlackBerry 8820 also supports AT&T Mobile Music, an integrated, on-the-go music experience that delivers "your music, your way" by providing simple access to a robust collection of music content, including access to online subscription music content from eMusic, XM Satellite Radio and more. In addition, the BlackBerry 8820 comes with a full QWERTY keyboard, an intuitive trackball navigation system and a large, bright landscape (320 x 240) display. Customers have a vivid and easy-to-use interface for the many popular capabilities of the BlackBerry solution, including mobile access to corporate and personal e-mail, text messages, Web browsing, an organizer, multimedia and corporate data applications.
Pricing and Availability
The BlackBerry 8820 will be available for $299.99 — with a two-year contract and rebate — in all 1,800 AT&T retail stores nationwide, online at www.wireless.att.com and through select national retailers and AT&T business-to-business sales organizations.
Customers who want personal e-mail access and Web browsing with BlackBerry Internet Service can choose the BlackBerry Personal Unlimited plan for as low as $29.99 a month with a qualified voice contract. Unlimited corporate e-mail access via BlackBerry Enterprise Server is as low as $44.99 a month when a qualified voice plan also is chosen. Customers who travel overseas can select an unlimited international e-mail access plan for as low as $64.99 a month with a qualified voice plan. Unlimited Push to Talk service is available for an additional monthly charge of $9.99 for each handset and $19.99 for Push to Talk Family. AT&T Push to Talk also features a pay-per-use option of 15 cents a minute. XM Satellite Radio and MusicID, which are features within AT&T Mobile Music, require monthly subscription fees of $8.99 and $3.99, respectively. TeleNav GPS Navigator is available for additional monthly charges of $5.99 for 10 trips and $9.99 for unlimited trips. TeleNav Track service plans are $12.99 to $21.99 for each device.
For more information about the BlackBerry 8820 from AT&T, please visit www.wireless.att.com/blackberry8820 or www.blackberry8820.com.
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