Blackberry Storm

For those of us that have been waiting for the launch of the new Blackberry storm, looks like the wait will be a tad longer.  For weeks now there have been reports that Verizon would launch the Blackberry storm sometime in mid-November.  A new report now indicates that the new handset will not be available until late November, sometime around November 24.

Verizon has a big stake in making the Blackberry storm successful, and there is no doubt that they will make a big deal out of this debut when the time comes.  Verizon representatives will begin touting the benefits of the new Blackberry storm to business customers at on invitation-only event on November 20.

The Storm will officially go on sale on November 24 at Verizon stores, opening an hour early to accommodate what they hope will be a rush to buy the new handset before anyone else does.

Because the Blackberry storm is the first touchscreen handset put out by Research in Motion, there have been many comparisons for the Blackberry Storm being the first major competitor to the Apple iPhone.  It seems as if every touchscreen phone that is announced these days is the next competitor to the Apple iPhone.

There is one thing that consumers will like about the new Blackberry storm, and that is the price.  For around $200, you can get the Blackberry storm as long as you sign on for Verizon service for two years.

This phone does live up to the hype however. It can support both landscape and portrait view, but is different from previous Blackberry products in that it does not have a built-in keyboard. The touchscreen display is all you need to enter data on this phone.

As was expected, the E-mail capabilities are a strong selling point for the Blackberry storm, but business users will also enjoy the music and video capabilities as well.  Users can edit office files directly on the handset, a feature that is almost required for business customers.  The Storm also contains a GPS receiver along with a 3.2 megapixel camera and flash.

So mark your calendars: November 24.  It probably will not be necessary to camp out the night before to ensure that you get one of these, but it wouldn’t hurt to get to the Verizon store a few minutes early.