Basking Ridge, N.J. –
has joined the short list of carriers offering Research In Motion
(RIM) BlackBerry smartphones with push-to-talk (PTT) capability.
Verizon plans March 30 availability of the BlackBerry Tour 9630 with PTT service for
enterprise and consumer users.
Competing carrier AT&T Wireless offers
: the Curve 8320 and the BlackBerry 8820. Sprint offers
the BlackBerry Curve 8350i with Nextel Direct Connect PTT capabilities on its
iDEN network. Sprint also plans to offer the industry’s first
Android-based
smartphone with PTT
sometime during the summer for use on its iDEN network.
Verizon currently offers the Tour 9630 on its Web site to
consumers at $99.99, with consumers able to get a second one free. Push-to-talk
capability is available as a downloadable app. The international 3G phone
operates on Verizon’s 800/1900MHz EV-DO Rev. A network and on foreign 2.1GHz
HSPA networks.
