Wirelessnorth.ca

Last week, this intrepid reporter braved a heavy snowfall warning to attend the Canadian launch of the BlackBerry Curve 8350i equipped with a Push-to-Talk (PTT) radio, under Telus’ Mike brand.

The addition of the Curve adds up-to-date mobile email & web to Telus’ Mike lineup. Previously, the only BlackBerry devices equipped with the snazzy walkie-talkie-style function on Telus were the aging 7100i and 7520.

The 8350i made its North American debut on Sprint/Nextel in the United States last December 15th.

The PTT function, which boasts sub-1-second connection times between compatible handsets, uses Motorola’s proprietary iDEN technology, and not CDMA. In fact, the 8350i doesn’t have a CDMA radio at all, but it does add b/g WiFi capability compared to Telus’ standard Curve (the 8330). While PTT and voice calls stay on the iDEN network at all times, the BlackBerry will shift data traffic over to an available WiFi network when in range. That’s probably a good thing, since iDEN data throughput maxes out at a glacial 16 kbps, roughly 1/4 the speed of a dial-up modem (see footnote below). Otherwise the 8350i offers near-identical features: microSD storage, GPS, a 2-megapixel camera, and 128MB of internal RAM (96MB for the 8330).

The push-to-talk function is enabled through a menu option, or (more conveniently), using the yellow button on the side of the phone. Two-way calls can be initiated by selecting a contact and sending a notification, which “chirps” the receiving party’s handset, or simply by holding down the yellow key and speaking, which broadcasts your voice to everyone you’ve added to a group list. There’s also an option to “beam” your PTT contact info to another user. And though we weren’t able to obtain tester units, a Telus rep assured me that contacts’ PTT numbers (which are different that the 10-digit telephone numbers) sync seamlessly with Outlook and other PIM software.

The Mike product line is marketed primarily to the construction, manufacturing and transportation verticals, for whom push-to-talk across North America and into Mexico (through roaming agreements) might be a key advantage. Worth noting, however, is the fact that the iDEN coverage footprint in Canada is far smaller than CDMA coverage.

There are also questions about the long-term viability of the iDEN network itself. After acquiring Nextel’s iDEN infrastructure in 2005, there have been on-again, off-again rumours that Sprint is trying to unload the network. At the same time, Sprint launched two new PTT handsets that run atop its speedier EVDO-RevA infrastructure, bypassing the legacy iDEN technology altogether. Verizon, now the largest mobile carrier in the US after its acquisition of Alltel last month, also markets a push-to-talk product which, like Sprint’s, runs on EVDO and not iDEN.

In its most recent quarterly report, Telus reaffirms its support for its CDMA and iDEN services “for the foreseeable future” (p. 17) despite its commitment to building out an HSPA infrastructure by 2010 as an interim step on the way to LTE. In the same report (p. 3), management blames lower voice ARPU in part on “lower Mike service ARPU”. Given the commercial viability of the PTT product, and the fact that mobile web and email drive demand for data and hence growth in data ARPU, one can’t help but wonder why RIM elected to saddle this otherwise competent smartphone with an iDEN radio and not a quicker CDMA one.

Footnote/Additional reading:

A Telus rep informed me that though iDEN throughput is 64 kbps, only 16 of that is reserved for data, with the remainder apportioned to voice and the direct-connect functionality.
Motorola announces speed improvements for iDEN (from 2003): Data speeds on next-gen iDEN (aka WiDEN) could reach 132 kbps, comparable to 1xRTT.