Research In Motion is bringing the BlackBerry to enterprises through China Telecom, but why offer the Storm as part of this deal? If RIM wants to compete with the iPhone in China, it should be targeting consumers with the Storm, not enterprises that need a keyboard.
I just got off the phone with jkOnTheRun’s Kevin Tofel, and like every other geek, we were talking about Droid and its impact on the market. We were both wondering if Motorola’s (s MOT) release today of its Verizon-focused Droid handset killed the BlackBerry Storm2, the new version of the touchscreen device which also launched today. My argument is that Droid and other Android-based devices are much closer to the BlackBerry and, thus, are a bigger threat to the Canadian giant than they are to Apple (s AAPL). One of our commenters thought so as well. Read More about Did Droid Just KO the BlackBerry Storm2?
In the battle of the smartphones, RIM’s (s rim) Blackberry Curve edged out the competition to take the top spot as the best-selling smartphone model in the U.S. in the second quarter of this year, according to inaugural smartphone market share data from research firm IDC. Apple’s iPhone 3G S took second place, with the iPhone 3G placing fourth.
With its hard QWERTY keyboard and big screen, the Curve (a longtime favorite of Om’s) has stood the test of time and beat out higher-end competitors such as Apple’s (s appl) iPhone, Palm’s (s palm) Pre and T-Mobile’s G1. Read More about Despite iPhone’s Success, BlackBerry Curve Was on Top in Q2
Everyone from Microsoft (s MSFT) to Verizon (s VZ) to Research in Motion (s RIMM) who suffers from Apple (s appl) envy need to learn one thing: If you want to beat Apple and its hit products, then you have to make products that are both game-changing and revolutionary, not me-too products with a few feature tweaks. Read More about Like Zune, BlackBerry Storm Suffers From iEnvy
RIM’s (s rimm) recently released Blackberry Storm is a device that tries to outdo Apple’s (s aapl) iPhone by including a beefed-up OS, polishing up the interface and marrying it to a really fast 3G network (instead of AT&T’s pokey 3G network.) The device even has visual voice mail, and a cut-and-paste feature. And oh by the way, RIM got rid of the the keyboard and got itself a touch screen. Read More about What’s a BlackBerry Without a Keyboard?
Having followed activity in the BlackBerry ecosystem over the past few weeks, I have come to the conclusion that BlackBerry Storm should be called BlackBerry Stealth. Why? With little media coverage, its forthcoming launch is the sleeper play in the smartphone market; it is poised to make major market penetration on its launch later this fall.
Verizon Wireless and its partner Vodafone Group will soon start selling the BlackBerry Storm, a touch screen smartphone, to customers in the U.S., Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand, the companies announced today. While they didn’t announce a specific date and talked about making it available in “fall,” it shouldn’t come as a surprise if the device hits the market really soon. Verizon is getting clobbered by the iPhone, according to some estimates. Vodafone felt so envious that it straight up copied iPhone screenshots and pasted them onto the Storm’s body, indicating that they still don’t have a clue on what iPhone is all about. (Photos below the fold.)
The Verizon Wireless version of the device will work on the Verizon’s EVDO Rev A 3G Network and (2100Mhz) UMTS/HSPA 3G along with older technologies such as GSM, GPRS and EDGE, making it capable of receiving emails and phone calls around the planet. The Vodafone version will have the same features minus the support for CDMA and EVDO networks.
