Blame the iPhone for AT&T BlackBerry Bold Delays

While Canadians can already freely enjoy the leather back of a BlackBerry Bold, American consumers are still waiting around for AT&T to launch the QWERTY-packing smartphone. What’s up with all these delays, you may ask? As it turns out, the blame can be placed on Cupertino and the iPhone 3G.

The Globe and Mail is reporting that the cause of the Bold delay has to do with all those new iPhone 3G handsets clogging up the AT&T 3G data network. In effect, any other major launch isn’t all that feasible, because the network just wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Upgrades to the system are costing AT&T millions of dollars, but they are necessary if AT&T wants the Bold and iPhone 3G to comfortable coexist. Typically, the BlackBerry service compresses your data for you. Such is not the case with the iPhone.