If the rumor mill pans out, the upcoming BlackBerry
8820 stands to be a bottomless piggy bank for AT&T. Why? First we heard that the device's WiFi capability would be
unusable without an EDGE data plan -- despite the fact that there's absolutely no reasonable correlation between the two -- and now we're hearing that its GPS service may suffer a similar fate. Boy Genius Report is saying that the 8820's navigation capabilities will be usable only with
TeleNav at a cost of $9.99 per month. Don't get us wrong, TeleNav gets the job done, but why can't any app we choose tap into the GPS signal? The phone isn't out yet (the latest intel suggests September) so we'll withhold judgment until then, but please, AT&T, we beg of you: let us use our hardware however we choose.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kashif @ Aug 17th 2007 3:34PM
Isn't the service still provided by Blackberry though? Like even through wifi, you still go through the Blackberry servers, right?
Jason @ Aug 17th 2007 4:28PM
This seems unlikely since I have a BB 8800, and I use it with google maps with only the data plan I have.
VZWguy @ Aug 17th 2007 6:12PM
it's called business, you do it to make money, if you have a way to make money...you do it.
some people act like cell phones should be free some times.
verizon charges, sprint charges, why the hell wouldn't ATT charge for navigation....and yes it is on the phone by default, but they can disable that and put their own stuff in.
Sean @ Aug 17th 2007 6:47PM
uhh maybe because the gps satellites are brought to us by the US govt for free they should encourage its usage not restrict it charge 100$ a year for it. GPS is good for the environment less people getting lost = less fuel wasted.
Thyth @ Aug 17th 2007 9:25PM
How about charging for services that actually cost something to provide? Charge whatever you think is reasonable for data coming from the towers. It costs a lot of money to put towers up, install back-haul data lines, and maintain them.
What is the cost to the cell phone providers to include GPS capabilities? Oh yeah... that's nothing, since that system is paid for by our taxes.
Charging for map downloads through the cellular network is fair game, but crippling the GPS so only a subscription application can receive coordinates is not.
TJhood @ Aug 18th 2007 7:46PM
Okay alot of companies charge, got it.. Doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.
We need a company to take charge of this and deliver devices and charge only for the services they provide.
So here is the thing, you buy your blackberry 8820 for say $300 from your service provider at a discount from the original cost of $600.. but they have controlled down the hardware so that you can't use anything without paying a fee even though it doesn't require any service to use the feature.
So you intially saved $300 and are now in a 2 year contract.
9.99 x 24 = $239.76 for GPS for 2 years
$50.00 x 24 = $1200.00 for a conservitive data plan even if you are using your own Wi-Fi
Even without the data plan you are still pretty much getting shafted.
wow.. so $1439.76 over two years so that you can actually use the hardware in your phone. This isn't for the actual service you are provided with..
So I say RIM / BlackBerry let me pay the $600 and use the technology how it was made to be used..
max @ Sep 9th 2007 5:08PM
So you are saying that if I buy the international version of the 8820, I can use the WIFI and the GPS without buying any add ons from AT&T?
TJhood @ Sep 10th 2007 10:46AM
I think you mean CAN'T, dang those key words
at the time of this reply this is exactly what I was saying, I think it was pretty clear but you are just in shock like everyone else.
Rumors have developed since this time nearly a month later. The Blackberry 8820 is now available for pre-order on amazon.com and we will soon find out the brutal truth to this when the reviews inevitably start rolling in all over the internet.
GPS has been said by a very educated blog that the GPS on the 8820 is simply hidden by an exclusion note in a alx file on the blackberry, a simple edit removing the exclusion would show the blackberry maps icon which is pre-installed for you to use in conjunction with your GPS antenna built in the device. This does confirm however that AT&T along with many other carriers codes which are listed as exclusions in the ALX file are trying to get you to buy into there GPS services by hiding the built in one. So yes it was crippled but it's a rather easy go around for those who care enough to fix it.. many will just pay i'm sure.
The Wi-Fi well I can't say for sure.. so I won't, but I sure hope it is left open, I really don't think this is going to keep people from buying into data plans especially for all of the people addicted to there push email availability. But it would sure help sell some devices to those who can't afford or don't need a data plan but would still like data now and then.
On a side note from the check out processes i've seen it looks like to get a discount on the device you are required to select a data plan. So if you don't want a data plan it looks like at best you might have to pay full price for the phone. And thats completly fair business.
John @ Oct 5th 2007 4:44PM
This doesnt surprise me.
Let me first say for "legal reasons" below is simply my opinion/impression you make your own call on whats going on but my mind is made up.
Telenav the AT&T preferred partner for GPS is apparently deceiving users into believing that they currently dont have a way to run their latest version on the AT&T 8525. There are loads of users complaining because their purchased the phones thinking they had the advanced features advertised by AT&T such as 3D maps and traffic information only to find out later AT&T was not telling the truth. Although their other versions included this functionality the version allowed on the AT&T 8525 was quite old without these features. All the while we were locked into a contract we cant get out of on top of buying a phone we cant take back. It recently came to my attention there was a download available marked for a different phone with the same hardware which worked. I downloaded it and installed and as I was told no problems at all. Works fine, tested all over no issues. I informed Telenav and was promptly warned not to mention this. As well now my original post has been deleted, even though they originally responded several times (I have the screenshots). They must have had some internal meeting on how to handle this "leak" and they decided to censor me. As well they have now deleted all related posts in their forum. Well, actually not deleted the post entirely, just removed any text in my post so it is now blank. My suspicion which they chose to dance around was there is a specific reason they are not providing the update and thats business decision between Telenav and AT&T. You see AT&T is releasing today the 8925, they upgraded version of the 8525. And while the hardware is virtually identical, it comes withe latest version of Telenav. It is my position that Telenav is purposly not releasing an update to the software which their customers were duped into purchased based on false advertisement because AT&T wants to force you to buy the new phone to get it. Very Sleezy in my opinion. i want to mare sure it is known that this type of practice will not be accepted my the mobile community and we will look to more respectable vendors for applications.
BlackBird @ Nov 5th 2007 12:24AM
Can you post your deleted posts again here?