Blackberry Storm 2 Not Far Off

by Jason Wilk on April 8, 2009

blackberry-storm-2

  • Sometimes you just have to drop the ball and let the whole world know you f’d up. Such is the case with RIM and their first touch screen release, The Storm. After months of harsh criticism and poor sales, the Storm 2 is already in the works and is on it’s way to release at the end of this year or Q1 of 2010. Alain Segond von Banchet, Channel Sales manger for RIM in the Netherlands, reportedly spoke freely about the BlackBerry Storm 2 during the TeleVisie 2009 Expo in the Netherlands yesterday.
  • Of the topics discusses, the Storm 2 will see an improved touch input method along with Wi-Fi capabilities. They will be ditching the SurePress technology and launching TruePress, which is rumored to be much more user-friendly and requires little to no push. According to BGR, Segond von Banchet supposedly also claimed that RIM will be slowing down the release schedule for devices in 2009 with no new devices except for the Storm 2, which means the Niagara will not be seeing light until 2010.
  • What I hope is happening with RIM is they are going to take their third-party app platform seriously and make it a desireable enviornment for developers to want to jump on board. It’s tough to want to develop a set of apps for a phone lineup that has two completely seperate input methods (one physical, one sucky push-touch). Delaying all new devices until they are all one point with the new Storm 2 makes a hell of a lot more sense than to just keep rolling out similar looking devices with new names.

Must read RIM stories:

Blackberry Bullish On The Down Market

New Blackberry Photos Out In The Wild. Not Impressed

RIM Executives Caught In Options Scandal

[Post to Twitter] 

Tagged as: blackberry 2, blackberry storm, storm 2

  • Jason Wilk
    More shocked to see the Curve in the No.1 slot than to see the Storm in third place, but now you have a little more backing to your argument. However, The 2 for 1 deal helped these numbers drastically, not to mention the phone below it (HTC g1) is only available on T-Mobile. The Storm is available to 80M subscribers on Verizon who can't buy the iPHone. I still would like to see return rates and see how these numbers look next quarter.
  • Jeff Haggerty
    It was the third-best selling smartphone in the US IN Q1 2009 - http://tinycomb.com/2009/05/04/blackberry-curve...
  • Jason Wilk
    "It’s Verizon’s best selling phone"



    Show me numbers
  • Jeff Haggerty
    > Jeff: Your statements are backed with little to no substance

    Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/2008/12/blackber...
    (from RIM's Q3 Conference call in December)

    Notable remarks:
    Storm launch has been "exceptional," demand "even stronger than anticipated."

    75% of sellthrough going to new BlackBerry customers -- versus upgrades -- in the U.S. The Bold, on the other hand, is the opposite -- mostly upgrades to existing BlackBerry subs.

    Continues to be Verizon's (VZ) best-selling device almost a month after launch.
  • Jason Wilk
    To the 3 of you:

    The company decided not to attach a sales number to the latest earnings regarding the Storm. Why? High return rates combined with consistently declining sales since the mediocre launch (500,000 units sold in the first 3 months compared to the iPhone 3G which sold 2.4 million in the same amount of time). None of you can deny that the phone has been met with generally mixed reviews since it debuted. They are also still dealing with software issues, lag time, etc.

    Josh, you said "Some people are just too impatient to get used to any new piece of technology". We're not talking about people being impatient, RIM knows that they released a half ass product and now they are changing the UX. iPhone never changed their input methods.

    Jeff: Your statements are backed with little to no substance and your comparison of the iPhone 3G release to my Storm 2 release statement is ludicrous. The iPhone 3G gained faster connectivity. In what way did they have to seriously rethink their user experience like input methods?

    Ryan, you said "The Storm has sold very well and helped to boost RIMs user base by 3.4 million. I write this on my Storm" Show me facts and I will edit the post. Until then, your comment has no weight. Sorry.
  • Jeff Haggerty
    I don't think anyone can back up the claim about poor sales. It's Verizon's best selling phone. Sales of BlackBerry phones are up 86% over Q4 last year. The Storm is an unqualified commercial success.

    I love how Jason implies that because they are introducing an improved model in the fall, that means they first model is a failure. The first generation iPhone was introduced in June 2007, replaced with the iPhone 3G in July 2008 and rumored to be replaced again in June 2009. Would any suggest the original iPhone was a failure? Or the iPhone 3G was a failure?
  • I found this article highly biased as well as uneducated and facts unsupported by any evidence. The Storm has sold very well and helped to boost RIMs user base by 3.4 million. I write this on my Storm.
  • Josh
    This article is highly biased. I actually thoroughly enjoy the touch screen on my storm and have zero issues since I bought it. Some people are just too impatient to get used to any new piece of technology.
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