The three big questions in the CrackBerry world right now are When is the BlackBerry Storm 9550/9520 getting released?, When can I buy a BlackBerry Bold 9700? and last but not least, When is OS 5.0 going to get rolled out?
While I kind of enjoy that anxious excitement of waiting to get my hands on a new BlackBerry, waiting on OS 5.0 has been a bit more frustrating of an experience. Back in May, RIM officially unveiled its BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 offering at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium event. Throughout the week at various sessions (including a press session) and in speaking to different individuals, I was informed on more than one occasion that the corresponding 5.0 device software should be available in the early fall (ie. late August/early September as it was told to me). With August gone and September flying by, I turned to RIM this week to get an official update, and was provided with the following statement:
The roll out process has begun for BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 with the recent beta release of BlackBerry JDE 5.0 (BlackBerry Java Development Environment 5.0) to BlackBerry Developer Zone at www.blackberry.com/developers to prepare the BlackBerry developer community for pending device software releases. As can be expected, BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 will follow before the end of the year, as referenced in the "RIM Launches BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0" press release that was issued at WES 2009 (http://press.rim.com/release.jsp?id=2309).
I know it's not the kind of reply many of us would have liked to hear, but at least it's an official update and shows where things are at (sort of). I guess the good thing is that 5.0 will have to be here before midnight on New Year's eve, which is actually comforting given some of the recent rumors I have heard stating it may even be February 2010 before 5.0 is live on all devices (that are getting the update). It's clear that since word first popped up of 5.0 that RIM has been going back and adding even more features than were originally slated for the update, which is likely slowing down the process. Likewise, we know that the Storm 9550/9520 and Bold 9700 when launched will be released running 5.0, so we can expect at least a partial rollout with these devices and hopefully other existing on the market devices will get the update at/around the same time (or hopefully even sooner). Of course there have been some 5.0 leaks to date, but with lots of apps not co-operating yet it has been more of a tease than a fix.
Here's to hoping we see 5.0 sooner than later. All in favor, feel free to Say Aye! in the comments.