The Verizon BlackBerry Storm 2 launch so far has been weak

Posted
by
Kyle McInnes
on October 19, 2009, at 7:04 PM
in News
. Tags: , .
Comments: 25 responses
25 Comments

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A day before the Storm 2 was announced by Vodafone and RIM, the CEO of Verizon, Lowell McAdam went around showing off the BlackBerry Storm 2 to NYU students. Since then, we have been asking ourselves when the device will officially launch.

The Storm 2 has been made official by RIM as of October 15th, 2009, while Verizon continues to elude everyone about a launch date. The reason for the elusiveness has largely been attributed to the fact that the Storm 2 did not pass Verizon’s technical acceptance program and thus a wrench was thrown into schedules and coordination.

Due to Verizon holding off on the announcement, review units were cut and certain sites did not receive one. Gizmodo had a really intense response to not receiving a review unit, and while I think RIM genuinely does love bloggers and Giz, I can see how someone would take this personally. BlackBerry Cool has had the unofficial Verizon BlackBerry Storm 2, but we did not receive our official review unit. Personally, I think you should target sites that have pre-release devices first, as they are better able to comment on the final build.

If Verizon wanted to have a successful launch, it should have given out enough review units to satisfy blogger demand (at least give them to one of the biggest networks on the Internet). They should have also announced the device along with Vodafone. While I understand Verizon doesn’t want to announce a device that isn’t finished testing, they have done themselves much more harm than good. After all, it’s not as though the Storm 2 won’t pass technical acceptance eventually.

We are still expecting Verizon to announce the device on the 21st, but the device may not hit stores until the end of October or early November.

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  • CJ

    Maybe I’m missing something…. But since Verizon hasn’t made any announcement on the phone 1 way or the other they haven’t done themselves any disservice at all. The general public is blissfully unaware of the phone and it’s only us voracious BlackBerry users that are clamoring at the bit for the phone. Everyone needs to just relax and let the rollout happen. I’d rather have them hold off on releasing it so that they can iron out the kinks than to have them release a POS!

  • CJ

    Maybe I’m missing something…. But since Verizon hasn’t made any announcement on the phone 1 way or the other they haven’t done themselves any disservice at all. The general public is blissfully unaware of the phone and it’s only us voracious BlackBerry users that are clamoring at the bit for the phone. Everyone needs to just relax and let the rollout happen. I’d rather have them hold off on releasing it so that they can iron out the kinks than to have them release a POS!

  • Albert

    @CJ right like how Verizon was so protecting the consumer with the first Storm launch

  • Albert

    @CJ right like how Verizon was so protecting the consumer with the first Storm launch

  • John DeBusk

    @albert maybe they learnd there lesson maybe they dont want the storm 2 to be the POS not ready for launch device that was the 9530

  • John DeBusk

    @albert maybe they learnd there lesson maybe they dont want the storm 2 to be the POS not ready for launch device that was the 9530

  • Rachel

    While I agree that Verizon isn’t doing themselves a disservice, someone is doing RIM a disservice. I got really bored with the waiting game and I started looking into the Droid. Now that they basically announced the release of that phone, I’ve researched a bit of it and I’m probably going to get it. If I had a date set on the Storm2 prior, I’d still be getting a Storm2 as I wouldn’t have bothered looking into the Droid.

  • Rachel

    While I agree that Verizon isn’t doing themselves a disservice, someone is doing RIM a disservice. I got really bored with the waiting game and I started looking into the Droid. Now that they basically announced the release of that phone, I’ve researched a bit of it and I’m probably going to get it. If I had a date set on the Storm2 prior, I’d still be getting a Storm2 as I wouldn’t have bothered looking into the Droid.

  • Jawman

    I’m thinking that VZW doesn’t want to shot themselves in the foot. They have the droid coming out on the 30th. I don’t think that they will put this up at the same time as that. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hold out to the end of November. Just guessing.

  • Jawman

    I’m thinking that VZW doesn’t want to shot themselves in the foot. They have the droid coming out on the 30th. I don’t think that they will put this up at the same time as that. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hold out to the end of November. Just guessing.

  • rh

    It seems like Gizmodo is just having a temper tantrum. They seem to be whiny.

  • rh

    It seems like Gizmodo is just having a temper tantrum. They seem to be whiny.

  • CJ

    Albert, Albert, Albert…. I own the original Storm and the only people I ever hear doing a lot of complaining about it are people that have never owned 1 or even spent any significant time with 1! Sure, the phone had issues at launch. But so did the iPhone and I was an owner of that phone too. Apple worked out it’s issues and so will RIM. It’s a phone and people need to stop acting like knowing the launch date is such a big damn deal. It’ll get here when it gets here.

  • CJ

    Albert, Albert, Albert…. I own the original Storm and the only people I ever hear doing a lot of complaining about it are people that have never owned 1 or even spent any significant time with 1! Sure, the phone had issues at launch. But so did the iPhone and I was an owner of that phone too. Apple worked out it’s issues and so will RIM. It’s a phone and people need to stop acting like knowing the launch date is such a big damn deal. It’ll get here when it gets here.

  • CJ

    Albert, Albert, Albert…. I own the original Storm and the only people I ever hear doing a lot of complaining about it are people that have never owned 1 or even spent any significant time with 1! Sure, the phone had issues at launch. But so did the iPhone and I was an owner of that phone too. Apple worked out it’s issues and so will RIM. It’s a phone and people need to stop acting like knowing the launch date is such a big damn deal. It’ll get here when it gets here.

  • Maran

    It can’t be a coincidence that the Droid is coming out so close. It seems pretty clear that VZW wants one, consistent message out about what their flagship device is.

    Look at all the Droid adds this weekend, then think back to last year with the Storm. They did the same thing, they had tons of adds teasing and building up, and this year they are doing the same thing… but with a different platform.

  • Maran

    It can’t be a coincidence that the Droid is coming out so close. It seems pretty clear that VZW wants one, consistent message out about what their flagship device is.

    Look at all the Droid adds this weekend, then think back to last year with the Storm. They did the same thing, they had tons of adds teasing and building up, and this year they are doing the same thing… but with a different platform.

  • ahampton

    My thoughts on this is they are trying to get all of the attention on the Moto Droid and letting the S2 slide in quietly since the S1 burned them last time.

    Just my thought….

  • ahampton

    My thoughts on this is they are trying to get all of the attention on the Moto Droid and letting the S2 slide in quietly since the S1 burned them last time.

    Just my thought….

  • ahampton

    My thoughts on this is they are trying to get all of the attention on the Moto Droid and letting the S2 slide in quietly since the S1 burned them last time.

    Just my thought….

  • ahampton

    My thoughts on this is they are trying to get all of the attention on the Moto Droid and letting the S2 slide in quietly since the S1 burned them last time.

    Just my thought….

  • DavidB

    1. From a VZW perspective, Storm2 is ONLY evolutionary. Droid is revolutionary for them. Whole new ballgame.
    2. Storm2 rolls with OS 5.0. It can’t be easy to be the first carrier to deploy on OS 5.0 BB!
    3. Gizmodo? What a bunch of crybabies! Sheesh.
    4. I agree with all of above promoting patience. Get a life people, its just a PHONE after all. Not like its launch heralds the coming of the messiah or something.
    5. Also agree about Storm criticism. While it was TERRIBLE at launch with OS .65, it is much improved and WELL WORTH the <$50 for two that it now goes for.

  • DavidB

    1. From a VZW perspective, Storm2 is ONLY evolutionary. Droid is revolutionary for them. Whole new ballgame.
    2. Storm2 rolls with OS 5.0. It can’t be easy to be the first carrier to deploy on OS 5.0 BB!
    3. Gizmodo? What a bunch of crybabies! Sheesh.
    4. I agree with all of above promoting patience. Get a life people, its just a PHONE after all. Not like its launch heralds the coming of the messiah or something.
    5. Also agree about Storm criticism. While it was TERRIBLE at launch with OS .65, it is much improved and WELL WORTH the <$50 for two that it now goes for.

  • TMJX

    I completely agree. The only way I knew this phone was available was by following the updates I had been receiving through BlackBerry Cool. I just went on Verizon website and you basically have to search for the phone! It isn’t on their main web page they have a link that says learn more on getting the Storm for free and it only list the original storm and other blackberry. When I finally searched in another section I finally found it and it was at the bottom of the page not even near the original Storm. It was the last phone on the page!! I basically had to go on a Manhunt for the phone!

  • TMJX

    I completely agree. The only way I knew this phone was available was by following the updates I had been receiving through BlackBerry Cool. I just went on Verizon website and you basically have to search for the phone! It isn’t on their main web page they have a link that says learn more on getting the Storm for free and it only list the original storm and other blackberry. When I finally searched in another section I finally found it and it was at the bottom of the page not even near the original Storm. It was the last phone on the page!! I basically had to go on a Manhunt for the phone!