Some Odd Stuff: LaTour, LaTour....

Salam 1Malaysia!

I'm sure everyone here who knows a thing-or-two about BlackBerry Smartphones knows about the BlackBerry Tour 9630. For those of you who don't, I'll tell give you the basic background of the Tour 9630.

RIM BlackBerry make smartphones. And that's a known thing. Now, the thing is, the providers here (first-tier or second-tier) only get the global range. In the States, however, things are a little different.

Do you all know the AT&T Sidekick? I'm sure you do. Its been featured in almost every teen-based series ever shown here on Star World. The Sidekick is exclusive to AT&T, and the Tour is similar. The Tour is exclusive to two or three providers there. Which means, no matter how much you plead to Celcom or DiGi or Maxis, they won't import one for you.

This exclusivity clause however, has its limits. RIM can only provide the Tour to these providers. But that doesn't mean some smart Joe can't pick one up off of, lets say, Verizon Mobile and bring it back here.

And thats exactly what happened.

I, myself, am a proud owner of a Tour 9630. Its just as powerful as the Bold 9000, but in a more svelte & esthetically-pleasing form. With its Javelin-Curve 8900-themed design, it was an instant success. EVERYONE in the States who loves BlackBerry Smartphones picked one up, and they loved the Tour and they loved BlackBerry. Even new BlackBerry 'converts' were absolutely thrilled with the Tour.

At one point, Maxis & DiGi supported the Tour. This, however, has been reduced to just DiGi. I am not at liberty to divulge why exactly this is so, but this is a great thing for DiGi, because Malaysians who fell in love with the Tour (like myself) quickly switched to DiGi.

With its beautiful form, killer processor & amazing media capabilities, the Tour is the flagship that the Bold 9000 was not.

If you're already a DiGi customer, you can pick up a brand new Tour from an 'underground importer' for about RM1,500. Then you can use it happily with the DiGi network.

If you're not a DiGi customer, you're not in love with the Tour, but you like a prospect of a BlackBerry, just pick up the OFFICIAL BlackBerry flagship model, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 at a Maxis dealer near you, while the Chinese New Year offers are still valid. Be quick!

Check out the official RIM BlackBerry Tour 9630 advert.