The Nokia E71 has taken centre stage in Orange stores amid shortages and technical problems concerning the BlackBerry Bold.

Orange had placed a great deal of faith on the BlackBerry Bold
being a star contract handset, but has suffered ‘problems around the 3G capability’, according to reports.

Retail staff said senior management has instructed sales staff to switch customers querying the Bold onto the E71 – Nokia’s business device with a
full QWERTY keyboard.

Sales staff revealed that the BlackBerry Bold has a mandatory data bundle of £5. The Nokia E71 has a slightly more expensive bundle costing £7.50. The other difference highlighted by staff was that the Bold has a slightly lower camera specfication of two megapixels.