AT&T’s upcoming version of the BlackBerry 8820 smartphone will be deliberately stripped of its full GPS features for the sake of promoting the iPhone, according to a report from an insider within the cellphone carrier. Although Research in Motion’s handset would technically be capable of supporting any compatible GPS software, AT&T has reportedly forced the cellphone maker to limit its mapping on AT&T to the subscription TeleNav service in an attempt to make the iPhone’s Google Maps feature and the device as a whole more appealing to customers. The carrier allegedly threatened to drop BlackBerries entirely from its network when RIM protested the limitation, according to the source.

The purported insider would not pinpoint whether the feature block was an attempt by Apple to downplay the features of iPhone competitors or an AT&T maneuver to strengthen its multi-year agreement with Apple. However, the move would be unusual for the carrier as it typically encourages the adoption of BlackBerry phones for business customers and only sees a small amount of income from TeleNav’s service, which is available at $6 per month for GPS use during ten trips and $10 for unlimited trips. The 8820 includes no camera and is generally considered at odds with Apple’s phone, which focuses largely on media playback and other personal uses.

AT&T is set to launch the BlackBerry 8820 during September and will also be challenged by a version soon afterwards from its immediate rival T-Mobile, which is said to be shipping RIM’s device without the same GPS limitation. Pricing is unknown but should be comparable to the current 8800, which sells for $300 with a two-year contract versus the $500 of Apple’s 4GB iPhone.

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Palm, Inc. has just given the world its first official glimpse of a smartphone it will release in the near future. The company hasn’t released all the details on this device, just a broad overview.

There will be several things that will set this device apart from Palm’s current Treo line, the most obvious of which is it won’t be called a Treo. Instead, it will be the “Palm Centro”.

It will initially be offered in the U.S. by Sprint, and will support this carrier’s high-speed EV-DO wireless network.

The Centro will run the Garnet OS, formerly Palm OS Garnet, not Windows Mobile.

AKA the Gandolf

Palm says this will be its smallest smartphone ever; nevertheless, it will still include a full keyboard and touch screen.

No official pictures of the Centro have been released, but those who were at a Sprint event today where this device was on display say it is the device previously known as the Gandolf (see image at right).

According to Palm, this model has been created for “a younger demographic, new to the smartphone space”.

The company isn’t yet willing to announce what the Palm Centro will sell for, but an unofficial report says its price will be $99.

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