In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, reports are coming in that the Sprint BlackBerry Bold 9650 is arriving factory unlocked. While we haven’t personally verified this news, it means you can pop in an AT&T or T-Mobile SIM right out of the box, with no codes, hacks, or tweaks required. The 9650 supports the following frequency bands:

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks: 850/900/1800/1900MHz

Single-band: 2100 MHz UMTS®/HSPA networks

Those bands translate to EDGE speeds on either AT&T or T-Mobile, but unfortunately no 3G services outside of Europe. If you’re a GSM die-hard hankering for a Bold 9650, and you don’t mind EDGE speeds, the Sprint Bold could be for you! Verizon fans, I wouldn’t get your hopes up, as the odds of Big Red following suit are about the same as my Rockies winning the World Series this year (which is to say, not great). If you’ve tried this, let us know how things are working out!

via Crackberry