A Bold Move May Depend on Blackberry Loyalty

Henry Blodget, the former Internet stock analyst, says he has considered the new Blackberry Bold:

We've been holding off on replacing our cracked Curve because we wanted to check out the slick new Bold. Now that we've learned that RIM wants $300 for the thing, however, we're going to:

1. Hold off even longer,

2. Take a good hard look at the $199 iPhone 3G

$300? In this economy? With a superb phone already priced at $100 less? What is RIM smoking?

One quick guess on what the folks at RIM are thinking is that many loyal Blackberry users will continue to be loyal. The Bold may be what many of those loyal customers are looking for as an excuse to upgrade. We'll start to know on Nov. 4 (Election Day in the U.S.), when cell phone users continue to vote with their wallets for their smart phone of choice.

(If the loyalty factor is to take a back seat, even in a recession, it may be more the result of quality issues than price issues. )