. The coveted BlackBerry is going to be distributed early next year via Cingular, according to a press luncheon the wireless giant held today. It will retain the same feature set the current T-Mobile version does, but Cingular will be adding Push To Talk (PTT) functionality.

Personally, we find PTT rather annoying, but, like Ben Affleck, it has it’s fans and we can’t figure it out. Pricing should be coda with T-Mo, and when asked why it was taking so long, Cingular said it’s because they like testing “rigorously.”

They also mentioned a new 3G smartphone without specifics, and that they’re in love with Windows Mobile. Whatevs!

Cingular to get Blackberry Pearl [C|Net]