The BlackBerry Bold has been out in Chile and Germany and drops in Canada tomorrow, so as much as analysts talk out of their ass, Citigroup analyst Jim Suva might not just be blowing hot air when he says that the Bold is plagued by the same 3G connection issues as the iPhone 3G (though 2.0.2 might've made them worse still). Apparently it has a similar penchant for dropping you to EDGE even when there's a perfectly decent 3G signal.

He speculates that the reason the US is late to the party is because AT&T is holding the phone until the cause of the issue—rough software—is sorted out. [Update: For the record, when asked, AT&T punted us to RIM.] After all, one phone having issues seems like a hardware problem (which international carriers in markets with well-established and proven 3G networks are saying about the iPhone). Its two most high profile phones? Well, people start talking. This actually would pose a larger problem for RIM than AT&T, since BlackBerry is largely built on a rep of being a reliable workhorse, and in the wake of the iPhone's wobbly legs (still quaking well over a month post-launch) reliability is a huge point for RIM to harp on to keep suits from straying. [Electronista]

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