Clamshell BlackBerry 9670 Appears Again

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That ugly old Clamshell BlackBerry 9670 has appeared in leaked photos again. This time, it’s from a user on the CrackBerry forums, who got some sneaked pictures of the device, along with another new BlackBerry phone, the BlackBerry “Atlas” 8980. We haven’t learned much new about the BlackBerry 9670, but it does dispell certain rumors about the phone.

When the phone first showed up, a lot of people speculated that it was a RIM prototype clamshell that would never make it to market. Now, it’s appeared again with some new information. The 9670 is allegedly headed to Verizon Wireless. Big Red (Verizon) actually liked the phone enough that they’re reportedly paying an exclusivity contract with RIM to have the 9670 be exclusive to them in the United States.

For Europeans who like this phone, while it will be exclusive to Verizon in the United States, Vodafone’s name was thrown around in the conversation for possibly bringing the phone to Europe on GSM bands. (Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, could be apart of the deal).

Although it looked like early leaked photos of the phone showed the Clamshell 9670 running BlackBerry OS 6.0 – we learned yesterday that BlackBerry OS 6.0 isn’t coming until Q3 2010 and the Clamshell 9670 will be “arriving before that”.

Although a lot of BlackBerry loyalists (myself included) find the Clamshell 9670 dreadful looking – some have suggested that the phone would be appealing to text-heavy teenagers, and that the phone could be a cheap entry-level BlackBerry (even cheaper than the Pearl series of phones). If that’s true, that could explain Verizon’s eagerness to carrying this device.

Do you like the Clamshell 9670? Would you get it?