Toronto — At least one of the big four U.S. carriers — AT&T — will carry the BlackBerry Passport, but BlackBerry didn’t say when.
“BlackBerry confirms that AT&T will carry the BlackBerry Passport,” said executive chairman/CEO John Chen. “Stay tuned for more information.”
T-Mobile hasn’t announced plans for the HSPA+/LTE phone, nor have Sprint and Verizon. Although the HSPA+ phone won’t operate in the Sprint and Verizon CDMA networks, BlackBerry could always develop a CDMA version.
On its ShopBlackBerry.com web store, BlackBerry priced an unlocked Passport at an introductory $599, off the $699 regular price. The site shows the device is already out of stock after yesterday’s launch and won’t ship until Oct. 6.
The company also said it expects carriers worldwide to offer the device on contract at around $249. Amazon will also offer an unlocked model sometime in the future at a price that Amazon hasn’t announced.
The productivity-oriented phone, promoted as integral to the company’s comeback, is available today in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, France and Germany. The phone will also be available in more than 30 countries before the end of the year.
The unlocked version that BlackBerry is selling direct to end users operates in multiple global HSPA+ and LTE bands, including U.S. bands. The U.S. HSPA+ bands are 850MHz, 1900MHz and the AWS band, so it could be used in the T-Mobile and AT&T networks. The supported U.S. LTE bands are 850/1900MHz, AWS, AT&T’s 700MHz band, and Verizon’s 700MHz band.
The phone was unveiled yesterday at simultaneous events in Toronto, Dubai and London.
