“Verizon Wireless and Research In Motion Ltd. have high hopes for the BlackBerry Storm, which they spent nearly two years developing as their big response to Apple Inc.’s iPhone,” Amol Sharma and Sara Silver report for The Wall Street Journal. “But despite a marketing campaign that cost more than $100 million, the smart phone has gotten off to a bumpy start. Some early buyers have complained about technical bugs with RIM’s first touch screen BlackBerry, although others say most new gadgets have problems that need to be ironed out.”
“When Verizon Communications Inc. reports its fourth-quarter results Tuesday, investors will be looking for clues on how the Storm has fared. Verizon Wireless is the exclusive U.S. carrier for the device,” Sharma and Silver report. “People familiar with the matter say the company sold roughly 500,000 units in the first month after the Storm’s Nov. 21 launch. That is a promising start, though well off the pace of AT&T Inc.’s sale of 2.4 million iPhone 3G devices in that device’s first full quarter on the market.”
MacDailyNews Take: 500,000 minus just how many returns?
Sharma and Silver continue, “Some Storm owners have complained about everything from clunky software for typing on the touch screen to the device’s sluggish performance with basic tasks like dialing-by-voice or taking photographs. ‘I found myself wanting to throw it in the ocean due to my frustration with its overall usability,’ said Steven Golub, a longtime Verizon customer from Morristown, N.J., who bought the Storm the day it was released, but returned it a few weeks later.”
“Verizon and RIM, determined to release the Storm in time for the holidays, rushed the device to market despite glitches in the stability of the phone’s operating system, according to people close to the launch,” Sharma and Silver report. “Handset-makers and carriers have been pulling out all the stops to match or one-up the iPhone, which has quickly grabbed a 25% share of the North American smart-phone market.”
Sharma and Silver report, “A Verizon Wireless spokesman declined to comment on specific sales figures for the Storm, but said the percentage of units returned is in the single digits, standard for a smart phone. ‘The sales and performance of the device have lived up to our expectations,’ he said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, Verizon Wireless has very low expectations. Read the reviews:
• Yale Daily News: The Storm isn’t an iPhone killer, it’s a Blackberry killer – December 10, 2008
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship Professor reviews RIM BlackBerry Storm: ‘Disappointing and awful’ – December 05, 2008
• NY Times’ Pogue reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘I’ve got a better name for it: BlackBerry Dud’ – November 26, 2008
• InformationWeek reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Tiresome, slow, severe bugginess and problems’ – November 24, 2008
• TIME Mag reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Novelty screen feels cheap; steer clear of this storm’ – November 20, 2008
• Chicago Tribune reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Can’t compete with Apple’s iPhone’ – November 20, 2008
• Gizmodo reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Heavy, laggy, sluggish, unstable, clunky, and tiring’ – November 20, 2008
• Engadget reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Frustrating, inelegant, uncomfortable; a disappointment’ – November 20, 2008
• PC World reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Awkward, disappointing; a failed experiment’ – November 20, 2008
• BlackBerry Storm: No Wi-Fi. No iPod. No iTunes App Store. No sale. – November 14, 2008
Sharma and Silver contines, “‘The execution here left a few things lacking,’ said Anton Wahlman, a consultant who advises makers of hardware and software for mobile devices.”
Full article here.
