Sprint heard Verizon’s announcement of the Blackberry Curve 8530 and decided the proper move would be to throw in its 8530 announcement early in response. Their version of the phone will also have EVDO and WiFi included. We agree that was the right move. Verizon’s just having a heyday today with the Droid and Droid Eris coming out, as well as announcing several other devices. Sprint needed to do something to divert at least some of the attention away from Big Red.

No pricing set yet, but with Verizon’s model priced at $99.99 we anticipate a similar pricing on Sprint’s end, though it wouldn’t surprise us if Sprint undercut Verizon’s pricing by a small margin.

Sprint’s version will come in a choice of royal purple or black.