Orange has announced the launch of BlackBerry Bold in the UK on August 16. BlackBerry Bold is one of the products that RIM has lined up to compete with the iPhone. Later this year, RIM will also be launching an iPhone look-alike touchscreen BlackBerry Thunder. T-Mobile too is waiting for September to launch the BlackBerry Bold.

The most interesting part of the deal is that the handset might be given away for free provided RIM faithfuls are willing to sign the mandatory 18 month contract and pay £45 per month. Moreover, it is also rumored that business enterprises might get special packages. Now, how will this boost the market share of RIM?Too early to say. The BlackBerry Bold matches with almost all the multi-functional features such as fast web access, email client, 2 megapixel camera and built in satellite navigation, etc.

The Bold is also supposedly ideal for watching movies and listening to music, but don’t ask for App Store, guys. The best part of the deal, however, is the unlimited data usage: users can just surf the web 24/7 at no additional cost. Neat! And a new strategy of competition.

Philip Lander of RIM said about the BlackBerry Bold:

This is really the next generation of phones, and we are confident we can take on the competition. We believe our users want a keyboard, and that they are going to be very happy with the Bold for business and personal use.

We will see the response to RIM’s call very soon. Rumors have it that some fans of RIM have started camping in anticipation of the BlackBerry Bold launch due on the 16th of August.