Palm OS device owners planning to switch to a BlackBerry (my personal advice: don’t) should IMHO know about an issue currently affecting RIM’s BlackBerry Bold.

A large UK carrier called Orange has suspended sales of the device due to unspecified software issues. A leaked memo from the carrier states:

Following reports of software issues with the BlackBerry Bold handset across a variety of mobile operators, Orange has decided to act in the interest of its customers by suspending shipments of the device in the UK. We are currently awaiting feed back from RIM as to when an industry wide fix for these issues will be in place, and expect this suspension to be an interim measure.

We apologise for any inconvenience this issue may cause you.”next stepsBlackBerry/RIM are doing everything they can to resolve this issue and will be completing full testing and validation to ensure future handsets do not have any quality issues.

This may take a couple of weeks so it’s up to us to do what’s best for our customers.

As of now, nobody knows when the device will become available again. People currently having issues with their Bold should head to their carrier ASAP and keep us posted on what happens (take a print-out of this email along for extra pressure).