Vodafone botches Blackberry Storm launch, Verizon Wireless says nothing
Our buddies across the pond in the UK, awoke this morning to some great news. Vodafone, via an official press release, launched the Blackberry Storm and announced that it will be available on November 14th. Don’t get too excited as that launch date, nary a few hours old, may have already been pushed back to November 18th. Vodafone’s own Storm pre-order page has been updated to reflect the November 18th date and rumors bouncing around the Vodafone forums also suggest a delay. What is Vodafone doing to us? Adding to the whole Storm debacle is Verizon Wireless who also issued a press release on Thursday and said absolutely NOTHING new about its Blackberry Storm. No launch date, no pricing, just a rehash of how awesome the Storm is. Unbelievable. Is this turning into the world’s worst launch or what?
Read (Vodafone Press Release)
Read (Vodafone Pre-Order)
Read (Verizon Press Release)
What a disaster! Even after it comes it will lack WiFi and decent apps.
“Is this turning into the world’s worst launch or what?” you ask!
No, that ‘honour’ has already beem claimed by Orange with the Bold in the UK… or perhaps even by Vodafone, also with the Bold in the UK.
I won’t bore you with all the messy details on here, but the ‘CrackBerry Boys’ (and girls!)know the score!
here in vegas some of the verizon stores dont complete storm training until the 11th. then with Vodafones release and Verizons scavenger hunt promo i think were looking at the 15th as a logical release date here in the US.
This is almost as bad as the Bold release(s).
Its actually not as bad as everyone says considering that VZW never stated a release date. All these delays are “speculated delays” on our part. All the dates being thrown out there are speculation. Can’t blame VZW for that. I guess all we can do is sit and wait for the official release date.
This is by no means the worst launch. The Blackberry Bold was by far more messed up
How is VZW botching this release? Let’s look at only what Verizon has told the consumers and not feed into any bogus dates speculated on these websites.
VZW started commercials a few weeks ago that state coming soon. They have a website where they will email people when there is a release date set. And the marketing materials mailed to customers state coming soon.
So how is Verizon botching this release if they have not set a single launch date or missed a launch date?
Those crying about a botched launch should look at the facts and stop believing every piece of hype/rumor posted on these blogs to get them to come back day after day.
THIS is why Veriozn doesn’t do press releases with launch dates unless they are 100% right on.
why tell the country X date, then RIM or some shotage of shipment happens and you push it back…you look stupid(like vodaphone does now).
Verizon doesn’t like to do official pressers about launch dates to avoid this, and I always find it funny that you al sit here and bitch that they are moving it back when they never officially said the launch date in the first place
Reminds me of last years i760 release. Someone leaked the Verizon catalog number for the phone and accessories. About 50-80- people go the phone ordered 2 or 3 weeks before release. Word was people were getting pulled out of boardrooms and chewed out over it before it was pulled.
Technically this post is about Vodafone botching it and not Verizon so be easy guys. I can see why you’d be upset though as to say Verizon says nothing and tie that in with the worst launch ever when they never announced a date to begin with. It’s not like the Bold announced beginning of summer and coming during fall.
Oh and P.S. I just did the Storm Hunt…the locations were relatively close to each other and I got to 3 locations but it took my ass forever to figure out what the clue was or else I could’ve gotten to a lot more. You just go inside…txt the clue and pick up a scavanger hunt map with the picture of the Storm in the front.
Well Likeabite, What was the keyword? Don’t keep it from us here!
@ Stormy…I’m going to about 20 locations in a matter of 3 days so I’ll post them all up at once if BG says it’s ok…I don’t want to have to keep on coming back just to post them. There are like 30 locations.
I’m a UK Voda customer – believe me this is crap marketing launch. I was told 2 days ago it was December by the first operator, then the end of November after she’d spoken to teh Storm people. Two days later it was the 11th. Now it’s the 14th. Or the 18th. I know they’re trying to stop us all buying iphones but this is ridiculous. Now where’s Mr Jobs I wanto to give hom some money….
Did anyone else notice that VZW’s Blackberry plan increased by $10 per month, from $39 to $49?
I’m tired of the “I just spoke to a Verizon rep over the phone” or the even more ridiculous ” I spoke to a guy at the Verizon store” post. Even if those phone reps aren’t in some warehouse in Bengali, Verizon doesn’t tell them any useful information. Half the time when they know some accurate info its cause they got it from BGR. If finding out even a tentative release date were as easy as calling up customer service rep, we wouldn’t even need BGR.
@ Likabite
Or you could just email them to me and we can keep it between us! Or not I guess! Ok Thanks
do anyone know it the BB STORM will work with Us cellular network?
@jorGeorge: Haha that was fucking great!
Some of you people need to get a life, seriously. It’s a phone. When it comes out it comes out. Verizon never gave a date. If some of you base your lives around the release of this device, please go get a job or something. You are what;s wrong with America.
This is perfect news! If i order my 9500 today, and theyre actually true to what they say, maybe il have it by the 20th! YAY
I just did a quick search to unlock it with google.co.uk and i see 2 options that came up
http://www.horizonwirelessonline.com/cat/index.php?currency=GBP&main_page=product_info&products_id=684
and
http://www.horizonwirelessonline.com/cat/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=444
so i guess they are the pros? any ideas if they will be able to achieve the code request?
I sent them an email, they say they should be able to as they already to the 9000 and 8220 models
Cheers
Jaren
Are you serious?
I’d just like to point out that anyone who says this is the “worst launch” or any form of those two words is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.
First of all, VZW hasn’t even released a date yet. If it wasn’t for amazing sites such as BGR, none of you would have even found out about the device until about a month ago when they started advertising publicly.
Now, you all need to do a reality check and pull your heads out of your (insert chosen word here).
Instead of complaining about the phone not releasing you should be thanking sites such as this one bc they did allow you to know about the phone waaaay in advance.
Now, if Verizon comes out with an ACTUAL release date and fails to meet it, then you can speak up (However, if they do fail to meet the release date, it still doesn’t make it the worst. Remember the Bold?). Until then, you all need to be treated like impatient kindergarteners. That’s right, if all you can do is bellyache about something like this then you should all be required to sit on your hands and not be allowed to type at all.
Another “Worst Launch Ever” for a BB. This is getting tired. As soon as Storm is out Javelin will be scheduled for release, and *gasp*, delayed. That’s the pattern, delayed exciting device (Bold) finally comes out, and immediately the next exciting device is delayed. ))Oxygen! I need oxygen!((
On the flip side this could be a boon to geeks waiting for these devices. Ad hype builds months too early, so by the time it comes out, no one cares anymore. (The touchscreen won’t be “wow!” by the time it comes out b/c people will subconciously think it has already been out for a while) ie a good way to make thing *un-revolutionary* is to have people believing your product has been out a while.
Reminds me of movie previews that come out roughly a year in advance. When it finally comes out, you think “I thought that came out a while ago” and completely lose interest in seeing it.
They should *only* hype to consumers roughly a week before a *solid* release date has been set in stone.
You guys are crazy. They havent messed up the launch, theres never been an official release date u nerds are just impatient. You keep checking on here and getting information thats strictly speculation. You cant get mad because the phones not out yet, theyve never released a date. And how is it a botched release if they have you guys here looking phening and looking for info for a phone that hasnt been released yet? You guys are going crazy for the phone. It sounds like genious marketing to me. You all are eating out of verizons hands over this phone. And also, the price for the data plans has not gone up, read what it says. Those are the prices for the global data plans. Geez
Verizon just leaked that the anticipated Nov 14th release date will be “pushed back due to a software glitch” They also leaked the price of $199.00 w/ 2Yr contract & $89.00 for business customers. Looks like they are shooting for the 23rd, but no official confirmation.
I still don’t get why one would need wifi in a 3g cellphone..