Verizon is priming the pump with announcements about the upcoming BlackBerry Storm, their latest attempt to counter the iPhone craze. They have good reason to do so. Some recent research suggests that close to half of AT&T’s new iPhone subscribers in recent months came to them from Verizon Wireless. The Storm is RIM’s first touchscreen BlackBerry smartphone. No firm release date has been announced, but Verizon says the Storm will be out for the holiday season and will be “aggressively priced.” That means somewhere between $150 - $200. The other marquee touchscreen smartphones, including the G1, iPhone, and Instinct are in that range.

Some unique features of the Storm include a tactile touchscreen, compatibility with iTunes, and dual CDMA and GSM modes. The tactile touchscreen gives the user a subtle signal when touched. The dual mode functionality takes aim at probably the iPhone’s biggest weakness right now – being exclusively tethered to AT&T. Although, practically speaking, the Storm will be exclusive to Verizon Wireless for a while. And while the Storm is a smartphone that will appeal to BlackBerry’s entrenched enterprise user base, RIM and Verizon will aggressively target consumers in the hopes of slowing down the iPhone’s momentum with that larger market segment. First quarter 2009 will be an interesting one to watch because it will be the first full quarter for the smartphone competitive battle between Apple/AT&T, Google/T-Mobile, and RIM/Verizon.

RIM announced their quarterly results today, and missed estimates for revenue and earnings per share. Wall Street had no sympathy – punishing RIM’s share price with a 20% decline in after hours trading. It’s RIM’s second quarter in a row of missed financial expectations. It begs the question – is this the result of an iPhone effect? RIM dismisses that idea and instead wants to focus on maximizing the “growing smartphone opportunity” rather than worrying about minor financial setbacks or competitive implications of the iPhone. Silicon Alley Insider has the details on RIM’s numbers. It’s not going to get any easier, even with the rosy outlook RIM has on smartphones. You can add T-mobile’s new G1 to the growing smartphone landscape. Sure, there will be significant smartphone growth, but there is also corresponding growth in the number of non-RIM handsets chasing that opportunity. RIM does have some tricks up its sleeve, including the forthcoming BlackBerry Storm, their touchscreen entrant that will launch on Verizon’s network later this year. Stay tuned.

RIM formally introduced its first flip, or clamshell, BlackBerry. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 was formally unveiled at the CTIA I.T. tradeshow, taking place this week in San Francisco. “The quad-band EDGE based BlackBerry Pearl Flip smartphone presents a sophisticated look with a sleek design and a chrome-finished frame surrounding its smooth, luminescent face. Packed with an abundance of powerful features, it weighs only 3.6 ounces and measures approximately 3.9” x 1.9” x 0.7”,” said RIM in a company statement. The new flip phone has all of the BlackBerry functions smartphone users have come to love, including:

• SureType QWERTY keyboard
• Bluetooth 2.0
• BlackBerry Media Sync
• High Speed USB 2.0
• Wi-Fi with support for UMA
• Compatible with BlackBerry Internet Service, BlackBerry Unite!, BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Enterprise Server

The phone is scheduled for release this fall. Flip phone designs haven’t really worked too well for the smartphone crowd. But RIM is making an aggressive push into the consumer market, and this new design is aimed squarely there.

The new Treo 850 or Treo Pro is the slickest looking Treo to date. Engadget has the scoop with photos to boot. From a design point of view, this new Palm is heads and tales better than the tired looking traditional Treo. It resembles the new Blackberry Bold, with traces of an iPhone. Lord knows Palm could use a smartphone hit. They’ve been trampled by RIM and Apple lately. The Treo 850 is believed to be a Windows Mobile device and will offer Wi-Fi and a 400 MHz processor with 100 MB of RAM. I’ve always had a sweet spot for Palm, being one of the first on “my block” with a Treo 600. I traded it up to the Treo 700, but got a little tired of it and moved on to the HTC/Sprint Mogul. Now I’m getting a little tired of that, and this new Treo 850 looks enticing. Let’s hope it’s more than just looks, for my and Palm’s sake.

According to the latest smartphone sales figures, the BlackBerry is holding up just fine against Apple’s iPhone. In fact, in the face of the iPhone onslaught, BlackBerry is actually increasing their smartphone market share. For the first quarter 2008, the BlackBerry garnered 44.5% of smartphone sales, up from 35.1% in the previous quarter. The iPhone was second, with 19.2% of the market, declining from 26.7% from the previous quarter. Palm rounded out the top three, with 13.4% of smartphone sales, an increase from 7.9% in the previous quarter. The details are revealed in this InformationWeek article.

BlackBerry is working to expand its scope beyond just the enterprise to include everyday professional consumers, or “prosumers.” It appears their strategy may be paying off. They are introducing a series of new handsets, including the Bold, that appeal to working professionals. Those professionals may not care if their place of work supports BlackBerry or not. Part of the iPhone’s decline may be attributed to the anticipated release of a 3G version, which is rumored to be launched in mid June. Apple and AT&T are also just beginning an iPhone push into the enterprise market, which is BlackBerry’s historical strength. The real competitive comparison will begin once the iPhone’s 3G version is in play and it gains a foothold in the enterprise space.

Verizon Wireless announced an unlimited web browsing and email plan for smartphone subscribers. The plan offers access for up to ten separate email addresses and unlimited Internet access. The plan is priced at $29.99/month and available to VZW customers with a qualifying voice plan. Eligible smartphones include the Verizon Wireless SMT5800; the Verizon Wireless XV6800 and the MOTO Q9m. Verizon Wireless BlackBerry subscribers have their own distinct data plans.

Palm, one of the early innovators in smartphones through its Treo line, has made some moves lately that it hopes will position itself to compete with the likes of Apple’s iPhone and others. In addition to an infusion of $325 million in cash from private equity, Palm’s board has been joined by two key former Apple executives. Jon Rubinstein, a key force in iPod development at Apple, has joined Palm as executive chairman. Fred Anderson, a former Apple CFO also joins Palm’s board.

Palm needs all the help it can get. With the pending iPhone debut on June 29th and Research in Motion’s phenomenal success with the Blackberry brand, Palm’s Treo will need some ‘magic.’ The Treo line has seen its own success and has a loyal following. But most would agree that the Treo line will need to step it up a couple notches to compete in the future, and quickly. Upgrades to the Treo over the past few cycles have added some useful features, but future development cycles will need to include major design changes and a couple of ‘wow’ moments in order to compete. Stay tuned.

Read this BusinessWeek online post for more insight.