The Cingular BlackBerry 8700c isn't even in the stores yet, and the Rogers BlackBerry 8700r has just started shipping- but never too soon for games and themes configured for these devices.

In this case, I am talking about a customized National Hockey League theme for the 8700.

Developed by Mark Sohm, it's available for all NHL teams, is free, and you are already looking at it.

If you click the Read link below this post, you'll be looking at a page with a download link therein.

Shop Rogers, the website for Canadian wireless service provider Rogers Wireless, has just posted the BlackBerry 8700r as being available for sale now.

There's a Session ID for each unique user, but one of my readers has sent me a link that should work for you as well.

Let me tell you how to get there.

On a new BlackBerryForums.com thread called How much would you pay for the 8700r, Forum owner and administrator Tom Glogowski has just posted that he's spoke with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion as to when the devices from the Rogers-RIM launch party are supposed to be shipped.

Went to the BlackBerry site and accessed the Compare Devices feature.

I checked only two devices to compare- the Cingular BlackBerry 8700c and Rogers BlackBerry 8700r.

The same. La meme chose. Down to the features, dimensions, battery power.

Everything but the name and oh yes, the color.

Or as they might say north of the 49th, "colour."

Mike Wendland, the chief technology writer for the Detroit Free Press, has a streaming video review of the BlackBerry 8700 up on the newspaper's Web site. You'll need Windows Media Player to watch it.

If you want to read a text version of Mike's review, it's here.

He's also got a cool blog called PC Mike's E-Journal. Click the Read link below this post and you'll get there/

I consider MSNBC.com tech reviewer Gary Krakow to be one of the most astute pundits out there.

For what it's worth- and that's a lot - Gary is quite wowed about the BlackBerry 8700. That's the device that Cingular debuts a week from Monday and Rogers Wireless in Canada rolls out four days later.

"What you should know is that they’ve made their new BlackBerry smaller, sleeker, faster and just plain better in every way," Krakow writes.

Gary is especially impressed with the speed of e-mail delivery as well as the 8700's powerful Web browser.

"This BlackBerry is very fast when it comes to delivering my e-mail," he writes. "There are times where I’ve received a message on my 8700 before it has been delivered to my home computer’s Outlook mailbox. And this happened without using BlackBerry’s fastest delivery system via its server software."

As to the browser?

"Without exaggeration this is the fastest browser on a handheld machine that I’ve ever experienced," Gary writes. "I don’t know what alchemy they’ve been able to add into the cauldron, but it works: Watching this little handheld loading the MSNBC front page as fast as my latest Pentium PC with its high-speed cable connection was a pretty amazing sight."

And this is no text-only WAP browser like you find on many other handheld devices. The 8700's terrific little browser can handle pictures, logos, art (and, of course, text) with ease."

The new BlackBerry 8700r was announced by Rogers Wireless this morning.

Rogers is the second carrier to offer a branded BlackBerry 8700 model. Cingular announced the BlackBerry 8700c on November 1.

The BlackBerry 8700r will go on sale November 29. It will cost $499.99 with a 3-year service agreement from Rogers Wireless and will be available for purchase across Canada through select Rogers Wireless dealers and retail points of sale, or online at www.rogers.com/8700r.

At the time of this post, though, that link had not yet been activated. But this link is active: http://www.blackberry.com/products/blackberry8700/blackberry8700r.shtml.

The latest I hear is that the next big BlackBerry 8700 rollout will be from Rogers Wireless of Canada.

Sorry for the grainy image, but that's the best we have on hand for what will be called the BlackBerry 8700r. When we get a prettier picture, we'll post it.

That's fitting, especially considering that BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion, like Rogers a Canada-based company, already has its own branded relationship with Rogers. Witness the BlackBerry 7100r.

Right now, it looks like the formal announcement for the Rogers BlackBerry 8700r will be made on or about November 15, with actual units being available on or around November 25.
 
Someone who is important enough in the Canadian wireless carrier world to be able to be invited to events such as last night's Cingular BlackBerry 8700c launch party in New York attests to the November 25 availability deadline.

RIM Co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie tells the Reuters news service that Cingular Wireless, which will start selling the BlackBerry 8700c on November 21, will be the only wireless carrier offering the device in the United States for a "period of months."

"We're not going into details. And you can expect to see other launches around the world in the not too distant future," he told Reuters.

Here at BBHub, I have received information that Rogers Wireless will announce a BlackBerry 8700r on or about November 15.

Balsillie apparently - and understandably - wants to talk more about the 8700's qualities than release dates.

On mobile phone resource and community site HowardChui.com, Forum Member Steve has returned from a Rogers Wireless party with a photo of what the HowardChui site refers to as "Rogers'upcoming BlackBerry Electron 8700."

"Electron" has been a code name but the terminology has been omitted from the latest documentation flying around.

Since Rogers tends to add the letter "r" to its BlackBerry model names, I am betting this is an image of the BlackBerry 8700r.

Sorry for the grainy image, but it looks like Steve took this with his cellphone camera. Guess he managed to use it when security wasn't looking.

Or to paraphrase that old Simon & Garfunkel song "America,".. "I said be careful, his cellphone is really a camera.."

Rogers Wireless said today it has added the BlackBerry 7100g to its list.

Previously, the Canadian wireless carrier was primarily known for its BlackBerry 7100r. Now, they offer both.

In comments, Rogers Wireless vice president of Device and Product Management Raj Doshi seems to imply that the reasons for the addition are that they wanted to offer their customers more choices, and by golly, the BlackBerry 7100g sure is cool.. 

"We're committed to providing customers with a wide variety of choice in how they communicate in both their professional and personal lives," he said, "and the sleek, easy-to-use and feature rich BlackBerry 7100g is an excellent addition to our line-up."               

The BlackBerry 7100g is $399.99 (CN=$340.00 U.S.) with a three-year service agreement from Rogers Wireless. With all possible rebates in tow, the carrier charges $199.99 (CN= $170.20 U.S.)for the BlackBerry 7100r.

Rogers Wireless, Yahoo! and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) have just announced the availability of Yahoo! Messenger on BlackBerry  for Rogers Wireless customers.

To use Yahoo! Messenger on BlackBerry, Rogers Wireless customers will soon be able to visit www.blackberry.com/YahooDownload to install the Yahoo! Messenger software onto a BlackBerry device and then set up a Yahoo! ID display name

Rogers Wireless sells the BlackBerry 7100r, BlackBerry 7290, and BlackBerry 7780.

Over on BlackBerryForums.com, rumors are flying about when the new BlackBerry 8700 (code named "Electron") will be released.

There are so many rumors and opintions that BlackBerryForums.com has even started a General 8700 Series Discussion section.

Tom Glogowski, founder, owner and administrator of BlackBerryForums says his sources at Canadian wireless service provider Rogers Wireless indicate a planned release date for early October.

Other BlackBerryForums Members differ:

Mobile RC says sources tell him the BlackBerry 8700 will be available in late October, and Member spare posts that he "has confirmation" of a November 1 release by Rogers.

Meanwhile, another BlackBerryForums member, jibi, forecasts an "early January 2006" T-Mobile release for the BlackBerry 8700.

On the BlackBerry section of the HowardForums mobile phone community site, I've just read a new thread called "Meetings Showing Up as an Email With An Attachment-HELP!!

"Outlook calendar entries and updates are not showing up on my Berry with the option to accept, tentative, or decline," writes Forums Member sd5187, a Rogers customer who has just switched from a CDMA-based BlackBerry 7250 to a GSM BlackBerry 7290.  "Instead they show up as a regular email with the calendar details as part of the email text. Also, there is a file attachment (which I can not open from the Berry) with an attachment titled 'RIM-Calendar.'

"The entries come across fine in Outlook, just not on my Berry," says sd5187, who adds that he is running BlackBerry OS 4.0.

"I was under the impression, fellow HowardForums member jibi posted, "that you could only accept, decline or tentative calendar appointments and meeting requests if you were on a BES and wireless synchronization was enabled on the handheld."

That point seemed to point sd5187 in the right direction.

I seemed to have resolved this by wiping the Blackberry and uninstalling the Desktop software.

Then I reinstalled the desktop software and re-activated the device with the BES.

"I think the problem was that I was using the desktop software with a CDMA based (RIM 7250) before," he wrote. I lost my 7250 and came over to the good side (GSM :D ). Instead of re-installing the desktop software I just connected my Berry. It recognized the new PIN and seemed to work OK, but then when the calendar items started flowing I started to have the issues described earlier."

But, as sd5187 gratefully acknowledged, the problem seems to have been fixed.

I can't really debate the notion that on average, Canadians have a more polite culture than those of us who happen to live south of the 49th parallel.

With that in mind, I've just read a study by the Boston-based Customer Respect Group, rating 12 major Canadian telecommunications firms on how they treat their online customers.

The study says that Rogers Communications, whose Rogers Wireless division sells the BlackBerry 7100r, tips the list.

Graded topics:

• Simplicity (ease of website navigation);
• Responsiveness (quick and helpful responses to inquiries);
• Privacy (respect for the privacy of the customer);
• Attitude (customer-focus of website);
• Transparency (open and honest policies); and
• Principles (values and respects customer data)

Scores were compiled from points awarded to each graded website, in each category. The numbers were then crunched to form the Customer Respect Index that Rogers topped.