It looks like T-Mobile USA is not the world's first mobile carrier to sell RIM's new BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220, as previously announced. That's because Italy's largest operator, namely TIM, has already begun selling the smartphone. This appears on the Italian carrier's official website, offered for 269 Euros – about 370 USD, a fair price, considering that the 8220 (also known as BlackBerry KickStart) is the very first clamshell to be built by RIM and that it comes with more features that any of the other smartphones from the Canadian company's Pearl series.

Although the Pearl Flip 8220 will be available in at least three color versions, TIM currently sells only the black one.

Specs-wise, the new Pearl brings the following: a 2.6-inch TFT internal display with 240 x 320 pixels, a 1.6-inch external screen, a SureType QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, BlackBerry Maps, full HTML browser, email and Instant Messaging, Video and Music players, a 2 Megapixel camera with flash, DataViz document reader and editor, a 3.5mm headset jack and support for microSD / microSDHC cards (up to 8GB). 

The 8220 has worldwide GSM connectivity (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz) with GPRS and EDGE but, as all the other Pearl handsets, it is not 3G enabled. Too bad, because high data transfer speeds would have made the new smartphone really appealing.

As presented by TIM, the battery of BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 is capable of providing a talk-time of up to 240 minutes (4 hours) or a stand-by time of up to 336 hours (14 days).

If you're in Italy and the new Pearl is the materialization of your mobile dreams, wait no more and go over to TIM's website, where the clamshell awaits to become yours. That is, if you are willing to pay the 269 Euros for it, of course.

Italy and Europe aside, there still are no details available on the exact release date of BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 in North America (whether we talk about the T-Mobile or the Rogers release). But, rest assured, the smartphone should be on the two carriers' shelves this month.