With the BlackBerry Storm, RIM targets average Joes

It's now Research in Motion's turn to take a crack at the Device Which Shall Not Be Named. The maker of the BlackBerry today is unveiling the Storm, which RIM hopes will launch the e-mail device into the consumer smart phone market faster than Harry Potter on a broomstick -- and, in the process, prevent Apple's iPhone (whoops, I uttered it) from taking any more market share. The Storm is offered exclusively through Verizon Wireless.

The new BlackBerry has what RIM bills as "the world's first clickable touch screen," which means it compresses when touched and offers tactile feedback to mimic how a real keyboard feels. It also has an accelerometer, which the iPhone has, and a video camera, which the iPhone doesn't, and it lacks Wi-Fi, which the iPhone has. If you want to know more, don't worry: Verizon and RIM are spending oodles of money on ads telling you all about the Storm this holiday season.

Still, for all the hoopla about the Storm, reviews have been mixed, and many analysts are skeptical that the Storm will do what the Dare, G1 or Instinct could not: beat the iPhone at its own game. The iPhone appears pretty unstoppable right now, recently surpassing Motorola's RAZR as the top-selling handset in the U.S. Even Whoopi Goldberg has one.

For RIM, that might not be the end of the world. It can now at least breathe a sigh of relief that its loyal customers who had been wistfully gazing over at the green, green grass that is the iPhone may now stick with a BlackBerry. Maybe RIM will even attract some new customers, like those tweens who text all the time and want a tactile keyboard, or current Verizon subscribers, or people who favor devices named after weather patterns.

-- Alana Semuels

Photo: BlackBerry Storm. Credit: Verizon Wireless

Comments

[ken]

No wifi no sale.

[Don Davidson]

I stopped at my local Verizon store at 8:30 this morning, hoping to upgrade my Blackberry 8703e (which has been having problems) to the Storm. One of the army of Verizon salespeople who formed a gauntlet at the door told me they were sold out, but would be getting more overnight and I could sign up and they would hold one for me to pick up tomorrow. When the salesperson at the counter finally called my name, he told me they would be receiving more of them around 3 p.m., but it would be first-come, first-served, and there was no way to reserve one. "Come back and get in line," he said. I left the store. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars with Verizon over the years on land line and cell phone service, Internet access, and now television; re-upped for the required two years every time I added a feature, replaced or upgraded a cell phone, and this is typical of the poor service they offer. They hyped this product for months, announced a release date, and couldn't stock the store with enough for an hour? -- or have a consistent story about when they will be available? (They're supposed to be a communications company!) Where can I get an iPhone?

[Dan Taylor]

It's an interesting thing; "Customer Service". After my experience with an Apple Store, in getting my iMac repaired, there's no way I'll buy another Apple "anything". I've been a Verizon customer for more than a decade, and have had my fair (or maybe unfair) share of frustrations with them too. As for upgrading my 2 RAZRs to Storms, I didn't suffer the frustration of having them "sold out", because I was up at midnight, ordering them on-line. That was a fairly speedy and easy process. Although I must say, I did have to call up and modify my plan details this morning, as there's only so many things you can choose on-line. But, that went smooth too, and so, I'm all set. After FedEx shows up on Monday, all I have to do is activate them.