This is disheartening news for the Bell subscribers who posses the BlackBerry 6 update ready handsets as the update will not happen for them until 2011. The information has been confirmed courtesy of a leaked Bell document so there are no second thoughts about this info being some kind of a gimmick.

The list of Bell locked devices which are OS 6 update ready include-Bold 9700, BlackBerry Pearl 3G and the Curve 3G. The only hope then is the Torch which is scheduled to release in October pre-laden with the latest BlackBerry OS.

It is difficult to comprehend the exact reason behind these unusually long OS update delays which annoys no one but the users to the hilt.

[Courtesy: Blackberrycool]

The Telstra customers must be happy because announced the upcoming availability of BlackBerry Bold 9700, one of RIM’s newest flagship smartphones.BlackBerry Bold 9700 features a new optical trackpad, full QWERTY keyboard, a 480 x 360 pixels display, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3.5mm headset jack, 3.2MP autofocus camera and a 624MHz processor.

The smartphone will retail at 999 AUD ($922), but it will also be sold with a range of Telstra Enterprise & Government Enterprise Fleet Plans and Telstra Business Plans.

Telus has already announced that it will be launching the iphone in November. But, this is not yet officially announced and I am not sure of its actual date of release. Currently, the suggested date is November 5th. On this day, they will also show up their new HSPA and network. Telus is planning to sell this phone at a price of $99.99 for the basic 8GB iPhone 3G, and moving up to $199.99 for the 16GB 3GS, and $299.99 for the 32GB 3GS. All are available on a three year contract.

Telus will also do the official confirmation of the other wonderful smartphones such as HTC Hero, LG New Chocolate, the Blackberry Bold 9700, and the Nokia E71. Unfortunately the prices of these phones are not known and there is no much information about these phones.

The RIM has officially announced the BlackBerry Bold 9700. This phone made its first appearance on the T-Mobile Germany’s website. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is a better looking and an improved version of the BlackBerry Bold 9000. This phone is supported by BlackBerry OS 5.0 and features an optical trackpad. The phone also features a Quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM connectivity, UMTS/HSDPA connectivity, 2.44 inch light-sensing display with 480 x 360 pixels, highly tactile QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi with UMA, GPS with Telenav maps, Bluetooth 2.1, 3.5mm headset jack, access to BlackBerry App World, 3.2 MP autofocus camera, 624MHz processor, 256 MB of Flash memory, 2GB memory card in the box and a 1500 mAh battery.

In the US, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 will be distributed by both AT&T as well as the T-Mobile. The AT&T plans to sell this phone at $199.99 on contract basis after a $100 mail-in rebate.