The Blackberry Bold seems to be one of those products that is perpetually delayed.  The original launch date of the phone was supposed to be June, but due to software glitches, it was delayed.  The most recent launch date specified was October 2, but yet again, it is delayed.  Ironically, it has been released all over the world and so the launch delays are US specific.

One question that I ponder is whether an element of the delay is due to AT&T purposefully delaying to sell more iPhones.  This could be a conspiracy theory, but I think that it could be possible.

The other issue is that AT&T is now going to launch the phone around the same time that Verizon launches the Storm.  The Storm, if you have forgotten, is RIM's touchscreen Blackberry and is meant to compete with the iPhone.  Had AT&T launched the Bold earlier in the year, they would have had a jump start on the Verizon phone.  That time advantage has now been squandered and it is unclear when the Bold will arrive.

As it stands, I believe that the arrival of the Storm will cause many end users to delay Bold purchases and possibly bypass the phone altogether.  This could be trouble for AT&T and so it will be interesting to see how the sales of the two devices compare.  I am holding off until I can check out both devices.