Celcom starts BlackBerry Curve 3G pre-booking with a whimper

UPDATE: Celcom officially offers the BlackBerry Curve 3G (9300) for both postpaid and prepaid in Malaysia from RM688. Read more on the Celcom Blackberry Curve 3G offers here.

Celcom opened pre-orders on the BlackBerry Curve 3G last week and made the announcement on its Facebook page.

Very perplexing is why is there nary a mention on its official website — www.celcom.com.my. Even more confusing is that the announcement on Facebook says that something is limited to 200 units.

We’re not sure if its the device that’s limited to 200 units or the freebie that comes with the device (if you pre-book whit Celcom, you get a free in-car charger).

If the device is limited to only 200 customers then that just silly on Celcom’s part. Wouldn’t it make more sense to offer as many pre-book units as possible. If they sellout, then that makes for an interesting story to send to the press, eg: “Celcom sells out BlackBerry Curve 3G in first week”.

Anyways, there’s not much info on the Facebook announcement except that you have to fork out RM50 to book a Curve 3G. Pre-booking of the BlackBerry Curve 3G runs from August 20 to 31 and collection day will be on September 3. There’s no indication on if you need to have a Celcom plan to get the Curve and no indication on how much it will cost.

But assuming Celcom stops offering the non-3G Curve than you’re probably looking at roughly the same price. That is around RM1,200 outright and RM500 thereabouts if tied with a contract.

If the non-3G Curve is still on offer then the Curve 3G will probably go for no more than RM1,500 outright and around RM800 with a contract.

We think the Curve is a cheap and cheerful device that does what it says on the box. If you are a IM, text and Twitter junkie, the Curve 3G with its pricing and robust construction is a nice phone to have. It makes for a good secondary phone too. Pre-bookings for the Curve 3G can be made at any Celcom Blue Cube outlets.