It’s no secret that I loathe the BlackBerry Storm and for good reason. For my own sanity and to keep Marc M. at bay we won’t get into why, but as a lover of BlackBerrys I’m giving the Storm another shot, but I doubt my initial impressions will change regardless of the firmware upgrades. The touch-screen just hurts my thumbs. A clickable screen? Come on. I know you can do better than that, RIM.
The numbers speak for themselves. Verizon was banking on the Storm and they obviously came up short with roughly half a million units sold in the first month. It’s a respectable number for sure, but compared to what Apple and AT&T did with the iPhone and iPhone 3G is astounding.
Adding a bit more salt to the wound is iSuppli’s breakdown of components for the Storm. Their estimate puts the Bill of Materials (BOM) for the Storm at just under $203. The BOM for the iPhone 3G was estimated at $173. Those numbers are important because AT&T sells the 8GB iPhone 3G for $199 while Verizon offers the Storm for $249 with a $50 MIR to bring the cost down to $199.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that RIM loses $3 for every phone they sell but it does mean that the company knew it wouldn’t do many unsubsidized sales of this piece. What will RIM and Verizon do? For those who already own the Storm we hope can only hope for more firmware upgrades in a timely manner. I hope RIM comes up with a different touch-screen device for the next iteration.
via Business Week
i actually like the whole click-screen aspect of typing. that works pretty well. it’s the whole rest of the OS, accelerometer, and sluggishness that sucks.
OS .90 is decent step in the right direction. RIM needs to fix a couple of show stopper bugs and VZW needs to release that update ASAP.
Mine stays on 24/7 (no house phone).
My complain..only the camera is slow. everything else works just fine and yes I use most features.
I don’t know Peter,but it’s getting to the point when he doesn’t like something I take that as a clue for me to try it because we disagree 80% of the time
And if I like something then what?
PS- I’m not a fan of holding my breath.
“The touch-screen just hurts my thumbs.”
Don’t break a nail Peter.
I was an instant BB fanboy when I first got my hands on a Pearl, so I am not gonna pretend to be unbiased when it comes to the Storm but its really not that bad of a phone. I personally can’t give up a physical keyboard so I am generally not a fan of touch screens, but if I was forced to choose between the Storm and the iPhone I would go Storm. I like the click screen, it helps my fat fingers type. What I am waiting for is a touch screen hybrid, shaped like the Curve 2 with a touch screen for icons and menu buttons, but a keyboard for typing. That is the holy grail.
Yeah the Storm has had its growing pains but so did the iPhone, remember when the iPhone 3g came out, with the only major change being the 3g compatibility? Remember how the 3g network was basically trash for the first month or so? Remember how when the original iPhone came out and people were stuck with expensive paperweights because the registration network was down for a few weeks?
Every bit of expensive electronic equipment will have its growing pains. Not fair to expect BB Storm to jump all these growing pains, especially because its a first gen touch screen from RIM.
Don’t break a nail? We all want a hybrid BB so let’s hope that’s what RIM plans to do with the Storm 2 or whatever they’re going to call it. I hate on the Storm because it’s not productive compared to its physical keyboard brethren. That’s all it is. I don’t like touch-screen devices for e-mailing and texting.
Aww, Peter loves me!
Hmmm some of my points I brought up in the last post about the Blackberry Storm were mentioned there…That’s a copyright infringement! I’m suing Crunch gear. I wonder what I can do with $7.33.
Anyways, to be a little serious. I agree with Derrick 100%. I’ve said this many times and I’ll say it again, the iPhone was horrible when it first came out! A lot of hiccups, tons of crashing, it was worse then the Storm. This phone just needs maybe one or two more software updates for it to come into it’s own. For god sakes RIM is pooping out updates like Mexicans give birth, so you have to give them a little bit of credit.
Peter, I’m glad you’re giving the Storm another chance, I really think if you give it a week or two you’ll come to really like it.
Thanks again Peter for caring about my sanity. The blogger world couldn’t contain my comments if I were insane!
@ Marc M
Well I’m not Mexican but even I gotta admit the racial slander your spewed was a bit over the top and had little to do with the phone and contributed nothing. Then again you’re only a 21 year old (according to your web site) and in time you will grow up . . . someday . . . but that day is not today.
Stop hugging trees you damn righteous self loathing hippie!
I may grow up someday, but hopefully at that point you’ll also grow a sense of humor. It’s the internet! Get over it!
I think the cost does not matters much. The actual thing that matters is the features and services, and according to me BB wins here.
The cost becomes irrelavent if the product doesn’t do what it’s supposed to. Personally, my Pearl has lived up to my expectations 98%. My only issue is I’m still a little hesitant about storing confidential client data on it for long periods of time due to theft, security vulnerabilities, etc. I do use
this new digital security site though and have tried to learn more.
Awe . . . sowy little Markie . . . didn’t mean to hurt your wittle feelings or bruise your ego. You’ll be ok. LOL!
Aww thank you, your words of encouragement will allow me to carry on. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do without dark cobra’s approval!