Updated: BlackBerry Bold 9900 shipping next week, confirms Vodafone

Despite kicking-off its pre-orders for the BlackBerry Bold 9900, Vodafone has confirmed that the handset’s been delayed.

Update: We’ve heard back from a different, more reliable Vodafone representative that there isn’t a 3 week delay on the Bold 9900, that it will start shipping on August 16. Sorry for any confusion caused.

Although the network’s promising an August 16 release date, we spoke to a Vodafone representative, who confirmed to SoMobile that RIM has ‘delayed the launch’ of the Bold 9900. No exact release has yet been given, but it won’t be landing for at least ‘another 3 weeks’.

However, the network’s still kicked-off its pre-orders for the next-gen BlackBerry. To bag yourself a free Bold 9900 on Vodafone you’ll have to sign up to a £41 tariff, which comes equipped with a generous 1200 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of mobile data. According to the network, you’ll also bag yourself  1GB of BT Openzone Wi-Fi access, BlackBerry Internet Service and 25MB of usage a day in selected European countries.

It may be delayed, but it’s a handset worth waiting for. At 10.5mm it’s the thinnest and most stylish BlackBerry to date, while still managing to pack a speedy 1.2GHz processor and the latest version of RIM’s OS: BlackBerry OS 7.

The handset will also arrive touting a 3.2-inch capacitive display, a full QWERTY keypad, a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera with 720p HD video, NFC integration, HSDPA and WiFi speeds, and 8GB of built-in storage expandable to 32GB via microSD.

Head over to Vodafone to pre-order yours now – if you don’t mind waiting, that is.