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We’ve been given word from one of our Bell insiders named “platinum” that RIM’s first touchscreen device, the BlackBerry Storm, will officially launch Monday, December 15th, 2008.

To date there has been little advertised by Bell and mostly dominated by TELUS. However, we did see a sneak peak with a recent newspaper ad that only stated the Storm will be “Coming Soon”.

The e-mail sent to us said “december 15th will be the official release date with a price of 699$ no contract and 299$ with 3yrs agreement… prices may vary depending if telus changes there’s.”  (That info falls into place with what BGR said yesterday about several price point cards being made)

More info to come soon with updates on this story.

A video was sent into us for what we can expect when the Storm lands into our hands. There has been a great deal of questions about the actual screen on the Storm and how to prevent it from getting scratched.

Watch the video below and see how the beloved touchscreen withstands a Rambo looking knife, restaurant receipt holder and keys. Then end result: not a single scratch:

MobiTV has announced they have surpassed the five million subscriber mark. In the last 5 months alone they have increased the subscriber base by 1 million.

Majority of the traffic comes from the USA, but in Canada MobiTV is offered by TELUS, Bell and Rogers where you can watch various shows such as CBC, CTV, Much Music, SportsNet. Depending on the carrier it can cost you from $10 – $15 per month.

We did a review of MobiTV – Check it out here

RIM has been in talks since February 2007 to acquire encryption software company Certicom Corp but the process has been stalled by management. So, RIM has offered $1.50 cash per share to Certicom’s shareholder to speed things up. The total value of the deal is around $66 million

Research firm IDC has put out its latest Quarterly Mobile Device Tracker study. The report reviews “the strategies, market positioning, and future direction of several providers in the mobile device market, including Apple, HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, RIM, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson.”

In Canada, Samsung Electronics took top spot for Q3 with 27.8% market share (8% higher than last year). The IDC study said that almost 3 million mobile units were shipped in Q3 (an increase of 30.5% over Q3 2007).

Some more additional info here

RIM has relaunced mobile.blackberry.com. This has a greater user experience, a friendlier design, faster load times and best of all will require you to click fewer times to access the areas you are looking for. More here

New pictures have surfaced by “Treatz” of the Rogers BlackBerry Curve 8900 (aka Javelin). This is the newest BlackBerry to hit the market and is UMA (Talkspot enabled), comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera with video capabilities with a display of 480×360. The price will be $179.99 on 3-year contract with a minimum $45 voice and data plan. More info here and even more pics located here

Since we are all Friends here… we got this from another friend of a friend of a friend who wanted us to share the holiday joy.

The Souce by Circuit City is having a Friends & Family $0.00 offer on many Rogers devices: BlackBerry Pearl 8220, Nokia N95 8GB, LG VU TU915, Sony Ericsson W760, Motorola ROKR E8 and the BlackBerry Curve 8310. To get the basically free phone you have to sign up for a 3-year contract and combine it with a minimum $35 voice and data plan.

Also, The Source has thrown in a BlackBerry Bold to the mix for $99 on a 3-year contract with $45 minimum voice and data plan.

We have uploaded the image here

MTS has launched the HTC Touch Diamond with a stellar opening price of $49.99 on a 3-year plan. To get that price you have to sign up for minimum $39.99 Voice & Data Package. They also have a 2-year plan at $149.99 and a 1-year for $347.99. More info here

We just heard the sad news that Ted Rogers has passed away. Thanks for all your genius work Ted! You are a Canadian legacy.

“It is with great sadness that the Board of Directors of Rogers Communications Inc. announces the death of our colleague, leader and friend, Edward Samuel “Ted” Rogers, the founder of the company, a visionary communications industry pioneer and an icon in Canadian business. He was 75.