Verizon’s Turn for Smartphone Spotlight with BlackBerry Storm Launch

Bernie — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:46:56 -0500

While it won’t match iPhone 3G mania, it’s Verizon’s turn for the smartphone launch spotlight with the pending launch of the BlackBerry Storm. AT&T is still riding the iPhone wave and even T-Mobile had their five seconds of smartphone fame with the G1 launch. Now it’s Verizon’s turn. They’ve been prepping the market for the past few weeks with an “anticipatory” marketing campaign. Early reviews have been mixed. The “sure type” feature, where the touch screen gives you a touch or click sensation, looks like it’s going to be a love or hate relationship. There have been leaked stories about shortages at Verizon stores for the November 21st launch . Makes you wonder if that’s all part of the hype machine.

Give Verizon their due. They’ve met the iPhone challenge head on, and really haven’t blinked. If the Storm is a hit, it may help them steal AT&T’s current fire. And it won’t have to match iPhone sales – won’t even have to come close. They’re already just a hair behind AT&T in terms of net new subscriber adds – without a smartphone hit. If the Storm catches any fire, it should put them over the top.

Verizon Hopes to Rain on iPhone Parade with its Own Storm

Bernie — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:13:24 -0400

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.