Orange puts BlackBerry Bold sales on hold

Orange has temporarily stopped selling the BlackBerry Bold while it tries to figure out a solution to unspecified 3G-related problems on the handset.

The operator halted sales of the popular handset on Friday. According to a spokesperson, sales will resume when a software fix becomes available, although no date was given.

"Orange UK is committed to providing the BlackBerry Bold to its customers in the UK; however, Orange UK and [BlackBerry manufacturers] RIM are currently working on providing a maintenance release of software to address some reported 3G-related concerns," a statement from Orange on Monday read.

"Although the reported 3G concerns have been limited to a minority of Orange customers in the UK, Orange UK and RIM both take customer concerns very seriously and felt it was prudent to introduce a maintenance release of software for Orange UK customers," the statement continued. "Orange UK and RIM apologise to customers for any inconvenience and expect to provide a software-maintenance release soon."

The company declined to give details to our sister site, ZDNet.co.uk, about the problem. The BlackBerry Bold is the first in RIM's line of smart phones to include high-speed 3G, or HSDPA, connectivity. -David Meyer