According to the latest news on the web, the mobile phone operator Orange is on its way to remove the smartphone from its offering. The decision seems to be based on some technical problems the device has been having lately. It appears than many users have reported different issues with their handsets, ranging from unexplained crashes and poor reception to irregular dropping of calls.

As many of you already know, the Research in Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry Bold received rather good reviews at its launch in October last year, yet it seems that return rates are above average for similar devices. Orange has been previously reported to stop shipping the handset so as to allow RIM to fix the software problems of Bold, nevertheless it now appears that the new firmware didn't do much good.

RIM will experience great problems, if its BlackBerry Bold will not be shipped by operators, especially given the mixed reviews seen by its flagship Storm handset, which is offered exclusively by Vodafone in the UK. Storm was initially perceived as a great rival to Apple's popular iPhone, yet the device was criticized by a range of gadget enthusiasts.

The comedian Stephen Fry has called the touch screen Storm “embarrassingly awful” on Twitter, and there are some voices saying that Vodafone expects the software of the device to improve as it gets updated. The BlackBerry Bold is also anticipated to see an upgraded OS, one that would come with even less bugs than the secondly released utility, namely OS 4.6.0.162. Although this version is more stable than the one first launched, the return rates surely suggest that improvements are necessary.

On the other hand, the iPhone also experienced a lot of problems at launch, and its software is still getting updated and improved regularly. Orange did not comment on the news story. According to a joint RIM and Orange statement, “The BlackBerry Bold 9000 smartphone is available to Orange customers both in-store and online via its website.”