After being delayed for months Research In Motion and AT&T on Tuesday finally rolled out the latest BlackBerry Bold.

The Canadian company’s latest smartphone can be purchased through its exclusive U.S. retailer, AT&T, for $299 with a two-year contract or for $549.99 for those opting out of the contractual obligation. An additional $100 mail-in rebate is available to those choosing a contract, bringing the cost of the device down to $199.

The Bold, which is competing against Apple’s popular iPhone, offers among other features high-speed data access, full international 3G roaming, GPS, Wi-Fi, 1GB of internal memory, and a 2.0 megapixel camera and video recorder that come with flash and zoom.

The once much-anticipated smartphone may have lost momentum after it failed to meet its original October release date, due to various glitches. Many customers, tired of waiting may have opted instead for the iPhone available through AT&T or for Google’s G1 available through T-Mobile.

“We see the next 30-45 days as a critical window for RIM products to reach carrier channels in time for holiday selling season, particularly as we see a rash of new products from all other major OEMs [original equipment manufacturers],” Citi analyst Jim Suva wrote in a note to clients last week.

In its attempt to recapture a market that was slipping away, RIM in the last few months rolled out a horde of new devices, including the Storm 9730, the Curve, and the Pearl Flip 8220.

A recent player in the mobile phone space, in less than 18 months Apple sold nearly 13 million units of the sleek handset, replacing RIM as the leading smart phone maker in the U.S. Worldwide the iPhone holds the sixth place, ahead of RIM, but far from leader Nokia, which owns 38.9 percent of the market, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

Apple reported that it sold 6.9 million iPhones during the fourth quarter alone, or 100,000 more units than RIM.

“Measured by revenues, Apple has become the world’s third-largest mobile phone supplier,” said Steve Jobs during Apple’s earnings conference call.

AT&T largely benefited from the partnership with the trendy computer maker and reported 2.4 million iPhone 3G activations during its third quarter, 40 percent of which were new subscribers.

Those numbers will be hard to match by the Canadian maker, whose Bold release failed to re-create the frenzied excitement and endless lines observed after the launch of the iPhone in July.