Late this week Rogers Wireless in Canada quietly launched the hotly-anticipated BlackBerry Curve 8900, Research in Motion's latest full-QWERTY offering in the BlackBerry smartphone lineup. Without much press or fanfare, Rogers listed the device in their internal database and began filling retail channels with stock. For $179.99 and a 3-year contract Canadians can pick up the Curve 8900 which supports UMA, a protocol allowing calls to be made over WiFi when available, saving precious cellular talk-time minutes. If the committment of a 3-year contract isn't your thing, the device jumps to $499.99 on a 2-year contract or $549 when opting for a month-to-month plan. Because the rollout hasn't been entirely uniform, it may take a few days before a Curve 8900 is technically available in a given area, but if you're a Canadian customer you should be able to place an order now and have it fulfilled within the next few days.

The Curve 8900 also somewhat unexpectedly became available in Germany later in the week. Combine that with an earlier-than-expected, quietly rushed launch in Canada and we can't help but wonder if the impact of the recently-launched clickable touchscreen BlackBerry Storm didn't go quite as swimmingly as RIM expected. Although many had positive things to say about the Storm, the reviews were certainly mixed, so perhaps this is a play to get the Curve 8900 into circulation worldwide more quickly in order to please the physical QWERTY keyboard Crackberry faithful? Still, with the trio of new options awaiting, the bottom line is it's certainly a great time to be a BlackBerry fan; if you're thinking of picking up a new BlackBerry, let us know in the comments if you're leaning towards the Curve, Storm or Bold.

This story around the web: