Lots of news coming out of the BlackBerry Developer Conference today!

RIM has announced the BlackBerry Academic Program which provides colleges and universities content to help learn about developing for the BlackBerry platform. Course content is currently available for mobile application development, administration of BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry support.

• Mobile Application Development Courses – Students can learn about the tools and techniques for developing applications for BlackBerry smartphones. Courses cover topics such as BlackBerry smartphone features and functionality, user interface design, multimedia application development, mobile web application development and Java® application development.
• Administration Courses – Mobile communication and collaboration tools continue to play a large role in boosting the productivity of enterprise workforces, and the need for trained professionals to administer and support mobile solutions has grown with it. There are over 200,000 BlackBerry® Enterprise Server installations globally and trained professionals are needed to maintain and support these deployments.
• Support Courses – Students are trained to work in technical call centers or IT support environments in support of the BlackBerry solution. The Support courses also include information that can help prepare students for the corresponding BlackBerry Certification exam.

Over 500 students have already taken courses in the program and universities in Canada and the US are beginning to offer courses and course content from the program in their curriculum. For more info visit blackberry.com/academic or check out the press release after the jump.

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Yesterday Rogers updated their website to show the BlackBerry Bold 9700, today Bell has thrown their hat into the ring with their own website update!

The Bold 9700 is available from Bell with the following pricing options:

• 3 year contract – $229.95
• 2 year contract – $449.95
• 1 year contract – $549.95
• No contract – $599.95

On a 3 year term when activating a minimum voice and data plan combination or combo plan of $45 per month or greater.

@cellguru also found out that Bell already has them in stock! For more info visit the Bell website.

A few weeks ago Canadian service provider Rogers announced via this press release that it would soon be offering the BlackBerry Bold 9700. @BRSDiddy let me know that Rogers has just updated their website and now has the Bold 9700 available for purchase!

Pricing:

• 3 year contract – $299.99
• 2 year contract – $499.99
• 1 year contract – $549.99
• Monthly contract – $549.99
• No contract – $599.99

If you absolutely can’t wait for your own service provider to get the Bold 9700 and don’t mind spending $600 to get it early then here’s your chance. Other than that if you’re a Rogers customer or plan on becoming one you can choose from a few contract options to get a certain amount off a new Bold 9700.

Check it out on Rogers and let me know if you pick one of these up in the comments!

While you wait for your new Bold 9700 (if you get one) you may want to read up on its features and specifications if you haven’t already.

UPDATE This contest has been extended till tomorrow night, November 1st at 11:59PM. *

The folks over at Carrier Unlock were nice enough to give me 5 BlackBerry unlock codes to give away as part of the BBRocks! birthday celebration.

Carrier Unlock offers BlackBerry unlocking services for the US and Canada with carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Rogers, Fido and a bunch of others. Unlocking your BlackBerry allows you to use it on any compatible network. If you decide you can’t wait to see if you won a free unlock code you can get one for $6.99 by contacting Carrier Unlock at brsdiddy@gmail.com.

CONTEST: For a chance to win 1 of 5 BlackBerry unlock codes leave a comment on this post using a valid email address. Only leave one comment, duplicates will be ignored and will not increase your chances of winning. This contest will end at 12AM EST on Sunday, November 1st. Comments left after this time will not be considered. *

RIM, along with AT&T, Bell, Rogers and T-Mobile, have made the BlackBerry Bold 9700 official with an expected worldwide launch in November!

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone offers top-of-the-line performance, functionality and features with support for 3G HSDPA networks around the world, a next-generation (624 MHz) processor, 256 MB Flash memory, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi®, a 3.2MP camera and a sharp, dazzling display. Cutting edge engineering and premium finishes extend to the exterior of the handset as well, with a smoothly integrated touch-sensitive trackpad and a highly tactile, distinctive, fretted keyboard. The dark chrome frame and leatherette back add to the new smartphone’s sleek and elegant look, while the narrow profile, balanced weight and soft-touch sides allow it to feel incredibly comfortable in one hand.

“The BlackBerry Bold 9700 builds on the success of the original BlackBerry Bold with new, state-of-the-art features and a smaller, lighter and highly optimized design that looks, feels and performs great,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO, Research In Motion.

I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to get my hands on this awesome BlackBerry. For more info head over to blackberry.com/bold9700 or check out RIM’s press release after the jump.

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Earlier this morning Vodafone and RIM announced the availability of the BlackBerry Storm2. Vodafone UK has updated their site to allow pre-ordering of the Storm2. Those who pre-order the Storm can expect to receive theirs on October 26th.

According to an article by guardian.co.uk, the Storm2 will be exclusively available through Vodafone for only a few weeks.

Vodafone will have the handset as an exclusive in the UK, but only for a few weeks. RIM is understood to have demanded that the device be available to other operators after Vodafone joined Orange in successfully ending O2’s exclusive two-year deal with Apple for the iPhone in the UK.

It is unclear whether any of the other UK operators will be stocking the Storm 2 in time for Christmas, but by the start of next year – when Vodafone will finally be able to start shipping the iPhone – it is expected to be available on at least one other network, most probably Orange, which will also start selling the iPhone within the next few weeks.

The Storm 2 will be launched by Vodafone in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, France, Italy and South Africa, and Canadian handset maker RIM is hoping that it will get a more positive critical reaction than the first version, which went on sale last November.

If you’d like to pre-order the Storm2 you can find it on Vodafone UK’s site, or for more info check out the press release that was posted earlier today. The Storm2 features and specifications can also be found here.

According to Engadget, BlackBerry Storm 2 accessories have started arriving at some Best Buy locations around the country. The model number is 9550 and apparently the Storm II and Odin names both appear on the front of these accessories instead of the more commonly used Storm 2 name seen around the web.

The Guardian.co.uk is reporting that Vodafone UK customers might see a Storm 2 launch this week. A few weeks ago Salomondrin let us know that this would be the case with Verizon possibly launching the Storm 2 a week later and Canadian carriers soon after that. If this turns out to be wrong we can at least bet that the launch before November 27th date is right.

It looks like this week is the week for leaks. BGR was sent a screenshot of Best Buy’s inventory showing the Verizon BlackBerry Storm 2 (9550) dummy units as being in stock on October 25th!

According to BG there is a good chance that the Storm 9550 will be launching on or around October 25th because the actual units usually get sent out a bit earlier than the dummy units.

If this holds true then Vodafone customers might see it sooner with Canadian BlackBerry users seeing a launch soon after Verizon’s.

Who’s excited about the Storm 2?

@Salomondrin is adding more fuel to the rumor fire by “confirming” some release info mentioned last week about the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and the Storm 2, along with bringing the Magnum back from the dead which is now known as the Dakota.

Storm 2: Mid October, but don’t be fooled, Verizon won’t be the first one releasing this berry, Vodafone will. Although Verizon is working really hard in order to get almost the same release as Vodafone my guess would be a week apart from each other, and then Canada will see the release soon after Verizon, if not at the same time.

Bold 2: Since RIM decided to push the Storm 2 first, they want to give the second generation Storm a little air in order for it to sell as much as possible. This leads the Bold 2 – 9700 to release Mid November to almost the first days of December. Although, lucky people from the UK, here is some good news for you: T-Mobile UK is planning on releasing on October too.

Dakota (formerly known as the Magnum)  info:

Name: Dakota
Size: Bold size
full QWERTY keyboard
GSM 3G speeds
Has a trackpad <— yes, you read correctly
Has a touchscreen (this is where the angels start singing)
Its development is AHEAD of the Blackberry Essex. Yep, we are going to see this bad boy really soon.

via TCGR

I haven’t been getting my emails for a few hours now and according to chatter on Twitter lots of others are having trouble with their data and email as well.

Audit over at Data Outage News posted the following notice about the outage:

This e-mail is to inform you of a network problem that MAY affect your Mobile Service.

Trouble Ticket Number: TT000011677021

Severity: 2-Medium

Description of Issue: Degradation of RIM BlackBerry BIS service.

Location of Issue: All Regions ;All Markets and surrounding areas

Start Time: Sep 09 2009 12:06 PM PDT

Symptoms you MAY experience: RIM BlackBerry BIS customers may experience delays in sending/receiving email.

Estimated time of repair: Unknown

Technicians are working towards resolution as quickly as possible.

Are you having trouble getting your emails and browsing the web on your BlackBerry? Let me know in the comments and don’t forget to include where you are in the world!