It’s called the “Storm”. Some say it’s been named so because it’s expected to take the smart phone market by ’storm’. Others might think it’s been named after the popular X-men comic book character who shares the same traits: smart, versatile, sexy and powerful. No matter the reason behind the name, Research In Motion’s all new Blackberry “Storm“, expected to be released in mid-November, appears to be all set to present Apple’s iPhone with its first real competition since the iPhone first debuted.
As far as carriers go, Verizon Wireless has contracted with Research in Motion to be the exclusive carrier of the Blackberry Storm in the USA much like AT&T has contracted with Apple to be the exclusive carrier for iPhones.
To date, RIM’s biggest market for its devices has been the corporate world. With Blackberry’s application for email (supports multiple email accounts), data security, Exchange, Lotus Notes, and Novell Groupwise, it’s no wonder why so much of the corporate world has been attracted to Blackberry devices.
Over the last couple years, however, since Apple’s release of the iPhone, RIM has seen a steady decline in its market share. With its touchscreen technology, Safari web browser (that sees pages as they’re meant to be seen), intuitive interface, iTunes multimedia player, and many other innovative phone features, it’s easy to see why Apple has been the company to actually take the cell phone market by ’storm’ over recent years along with taking away much of RIM’s market share. According to Apple’s press release on it’s 4th quarter earnings for this past fiscal year, Apple sold more iPhones than RIM sold Blackberries. However, with its soon to be released Blackberry Storm, RIM can expect to win back some of that market share and perhaps even acquire new market share with younger, multimedia savvy generations.
The Storm will be Blackberry’s first hand held device to employ touchscreen technology. It will have all the comparable features that has made the iPhone so popular and then some. Among the features Storm users may enjoy that the iPhone simply doesn’t offer yet are the following:
3.2 MP Camera
The Storm will capture 3.2 megapixel stills and video with built-in flash and auto-focus. The latest iPhone only offers a 2.0 megapixel camera and, surprisingly, still cannot capture video. Storm users with accounts to popular sites like Facebook and Youtube will now be able to shoot and instantly upload videos wherever they are(within coverage areas).
Longer Battery and Talk Time
iPhones are notorious for losing battery strength at the most inconvenient times. The Storm will be good for 360 standby hours or 5.5 hours talk time. iPhones are known to be good for 300 hours standby or 5 hours of talk time. That extra half hour of talk time could be critical when trying to close a sale.
Replaceable Battery
When the iPhone loses it’s power, you have to find your way to an outlet or your car and attach your charging cable to it or buy a bulky and expensive charging device to carry around as spare power. If your iPhone battery fails completely, you have to give up your phone for a period of time and pay a service fee to have a new battery installed. With the Blackberry Storm, as with all Blackberries, you can purchase additional and inexpensive spare batteries to give you spare power out of your pocket when needed.
Removable Memory
With the current iPhones, you’re limited to a choice of an 8 GB and 16 GB model with no place to install additional memory. The Storm will ship with an 8GB microSD memory card and you can always purchase additional memory cards of any size up to 16GB if you want more space. This will give Blackberry Storm users access to removable and expandable memory.
Bigger Screen
When it comes to watching movies and other videos, the bigger the display, the better. The Storm will boast a display with a 480 x 360 resolution compared to iPhone’s 480 x 320 display. That’s 19,200 more pixels of screen space!!!
Copy and Paste
The Storm, like other Blackberry devices can copy and paste. The iPhone simply can’t. When time is of the essence and you have to edit a document, spreadsheet, or presentation, this simple function is invaluable.
Of all the nice features the Storm offers, one big one that it does not have is WiFi, much faster than even Verizon’s new 3G network. The iPhone, of course, does have WiFi and this may be just enough to keep many iPhone users from switching.
So far, over the past few years, many cell phone manufacturers have tried and tried to compete with Apple in rushing out their own version of an iPhone and have failed miserably with every attempt. None so far have even come close to competing with the iPhone and slowing down it’s market growth.
That may very well change with the release of the Blackberry Storm. Only time well tell. Just keep a watch on the horizon because there’s a “Storm” forecasted to hit the smart phone market later this month.
IronWill82 on November 3rd 2008
No comments yet.