Hefty price tag for AT&T's BlackBerry Bold

Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive of Research In Motion (RIM), holds the new Blackberry Bold handset during its launch in Mumbai September 18, 2008. AT&T Inc said on Wednesday it would sell the BlackBerry Bold from Research In Motion Ltd for $299, or 50 percent more than it charges for Apple Inc's iPhone.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc said on Wednesday it would sell the BlackBerry Bold from Research In Motion Ltd for $299, or 50 percent more than it charges for Apple Inc's iPhone.

AT&T, which had set a new bar for smartphones with a $200 iPhone, said it would start selling the high-speed version of Rim's popular mobile email devices from November 4, just ahead of the unofficial start of the U.S. holiday shopping season.

But with its relatively high price, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King said the Bold with likely be more popular among executives than consumers.

"The BlackBerry is going to be almost entirely business focused. iPhone is still mainly attracting consumers," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King.

AT&T said it would be the first U.S. operator to support navigation services for customers traveling outside the country with the Bold, which also supports Wi-Fi, a short-range wireless network technology found in coffee shops.

The $299 price tag applies to customers who sign up for a two year contract with AT&T, the company said.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Andre Grenon)