Blackberry Curve 3G to hit shops in September

The BlackBerry Curve 3G will be available in Australia through VHA and Optus from next month, Research In Motion today announced.

The device ships with the BlackBerry 5 operating system and is "ready" for the next version, BlackBerry 6, subject to carrier certifications.

The BlackBerry Curve 3G features a QWERTY keyboard, optical trackpad, GPS and Wi-Fi.

It also has a camera and a microSD/SDHC slot supporting up to 32GB in memory cards for storage, the company claimed. 

Vodafone and Optus shops will begin stocking the phone from September followed by 3 shops in October.

Optus said the handset is included in a $49 Blackberry cap plan.  

VHA said it will release pricing close to the release date. 

Meanwhile, distributor Brightpoint has added BlackBerry Storm2 to its product line up.

The device was launched earlier this year through telco partners and is now available to Brightpoint resellers. 

Research In Motion began expanding the national distribution of BlackBerry products through Brightpoint's network in May 2010.

Brightpoint also distributes the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphones, BlackBerry accessories and BlackBerry software.