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RIM is pinning high hopes on its latest smartphones, the 3G Bold and touchscreen Storm, as shareholders grow nervous at the Canadian firm's ability to afford the high marketing and R&D costs of competing with the big names in the mainstream phone market. So problems with Bold in a second market, following long delays getting the device on to AT&T's US network, will be very unwelcome news.

Orange UK has pulled the Bold - which has launched in the UK and several other territories, despite the US delays - citing software problems. These problems have apparently caused connection issues, of the type that AT&T has experienced while testing the Bold for its HSPA system. The Orange hitches are more concerning, because the French-owned cellco has a more advanced and well tuned network than AT&T's, implying that the issues lie in the handset itself - and so could turn up in other countries too. The Bold currently is on sale in 20 markets.

UK users have been reporting reception issues and 3G data problems with the handset since its launch two months ago, and Orange has now suspended shipping Bolds until these concerns are addressed. "Although the reported 3G concerns have been limited to a minority of Orange customers in the UK, Orange and RIM both take customer concerns very seriously and felt it was prudent to introduce a maintenance release of software for Orange UK customers at this time," Orange said in a statement.

By contrast, insiders say the newly launched Storm will have no such issues, since it was co-developed with Vodafone - which, together with its US joint venture Verizon Wireless, have the initial exclusive - and rigorously tested for Vodafone's networks.

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