BlackBerry Bold delays - Wireless Turkeys 2008

Why is it a turkey?

Research In Motion and later AT&T Mobility might have been reading Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" when they devised the launch of the BlackBerry Bold. 

It was first announced in May that AT&T customers would get their hands on the device [1] in July for $300. Then, at the end of June, it was announced that the July launch would be scrapped and pushed back to August [2] as RIM looked to stabilize the device for AT&T's HSPA network. August came and went, as did September. On Oct. 1, the blog Boy Genius Report said that because of problems with the OS [3] that were being fixed by RIM, the launch would be delayed even further. Later that week, RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said that the phone was delayed because the company wanted to make sure it works properly on AT&T's HSPA network [4].

On Oct. 22, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega let it slip that the phone would be available on Nov. 4 for $299.99 [5] with a two-year service contract and after a mail-in rebate. And indeed, the phone launched on that day [6], months after users thought they would get their hands on it.