T-Mobile BlackBerry 8320 Adds WiFi and VoIP To Mix

I'm looking forward to seeing the consumer and small business customer markets reaction to the new Blackberry 8320 that offers VoIP and WiFi from T-Mobile. While it will provide much of what I'm getting now with Truphone on my Nokia E61i, my instincts tell me that the single source provider will appeal to the later adopters who don't want to fiddle and diddle. They just want to talk.

For years I have been convinced that it was only a matter of time before the mobile operators entered the VoIP game. With this release, T-Mobile becomes the first real operator to make the push, and they are starting with the largest group of early adopters of cloud based IP based technology in the mobile world. The BlackBerry users.

I've felt this way because the mobile operator already owns the customer out on the road, and now they have the ability really provide the service where the reception has been not always pristine. This will help change that.

I expect to see Sprint follow suit in consort with the cable operators via Pivot once the service gains traction, which it has yet to. Ironically AT&T with CallVantage could have offered this a few years ago, however internal politics, the sell off of AT&T Wireless to Cingular, and now the repurchase has put them behind on this. My gut says AT&T isn't far behind though here in the USA.

What will be interesting to learn is which other operators follow T-Mobile's lead around the world. Orange is having a great deal of success with Unik in France for the consumer market, so the 8320 would be ideal for their business customers.