Verizon announces BlackBerry Storm release date, November 21st, $199
At least y’all will have to wait less, not longer, right? We’re finally allowed to publish what the BlackBerry world has been waiting for — the official release date for the BlackBerry Storm. November 21st is the date that shall live in infamy. Well, not really, but you get the point! So… does this mean any Joe Six-pack or Joe The Plumber can walk into a Verizon Wireless store and get a Storm? Yes sir! The 21st is the general availability date and that includes corporate stores, telesales, online, etc. The price? $199 like we’ve said all along. That’s after a $50 MIR, but hey, do you really care at this point? Nope. We’re also told stock levels will be enormous, so there shouldn’t be any issue getting a unit on launch day. Just don’t come cryin’ to us if some pimple-faced adolescent manages to grab the last one right before you. Let’s quickly recap so there is no confusion:
- November 21st
- $199
Thank you and good night (or good day, for you folks on the other side of the world).
NO NO NO and NO again.
C-Man you are all over this storm and Verizon stuff. Everyone keeps telling you, YOU ARE WRONG. The Storm or any other blackberry for that matter will NOT work on a connect plan. The connect plan is not for smartphones. How many people have to tell you that. Even Kelly, one of the bloggers told you that and you still continue to talk stupid.
I honestly hope you go into a store and ask the rep for a Storm on a connect plan and see what kind of look you get while you continue to argue with them like an idiot.
STORM TO BE PRICED AT $99!!!! $99!! That’s including the New Every 2 years $100 discount….And it’s interesting that no one has mentioned that the 3G iPhone has only 8GB of memory for the 199 price whereas the STORM actually has 9GB (1GB onboard plus the free 8GB card).
STORM for $99!!!! WOOT!! May the iPhone’s reign atop the smartphone sales (for 1 quarter) RIP…
@ Likeabite
Dude, I was trying to be funny with that post, and I guess looking to see the angry responses. Now don’t tell me a you think a vote for Mccain was a vote for racism!? I can tell from reading your posts that you are much smarter than that. I know you don’t know me, but if you did I guarantee you would use the word racist in the same sentence. Let me know how you did at the challenge I tried to go in the afternoon but had too much to do at work. I was gonna go in the morning and wait but changed my mind when I saw the rain.
u can get early upgrade w/ no problem just call
How are the apps for BB? Will they have as big a selection as the IPhone does? Everything else looks fantastic, as far as I can tell, on the Storm.
has anybody figured out what the corp discount for the storm is?
Thank God. My Palm 700p is about to meet Mr. Hammer. The system pausing, locking up, mail problems, and other “pain” will soon be over.
The 21st can’t get here soon enough.
Two questions…
1) I have heard about people buying 3rd party insurance because it is cheaper/better than Verizon’s insurance… any suggestions on who to buy from (I read up on SquareTrade but they only cover up to $399) ?
2) Will Verizon stores take your name down if you call to reserve a Storm on the 21st? If not, is everyone just waking up at 7am to get to the store first?
I have gotten a new phone with the new every two plan up to two months before i was due.
Two questions…
1) I have heard about people buying 3rd party insurance because it is cheaper/better than Verizon’s insurance… any suggestions on who to buy from (I read up on SquareTrade but they only cover up to $399) ?
2) Will Verizon stores take your name down if you call to reserve a Storm on the 21st? If not, is everyone just waking up at 7am to get to the store first?
just go to best buy and pre order, your get it for sure on the 21st…
I believe it is two months prior. So you should be able to get a new phone in November. Go to http://www.verizonwireless.com and put in your account info. It will show the progress of how much longer you have to wait.
Will alltel get it too since they are merging??
Thats Weried brandon M i called and asked if i could order mine today for Pre order and they advised nope and she even told me she got an email 10min before i called regarding how they should handle these calls and she said to call friday the 21st in the morning.
@ Stormy…I’m glad that was a joke and if it was sorry I took it the wrong way.
I did the Storm challenge at 5:30…was online at 3 after registering, then left the line and went back to work…went there after work and rejoined the line from where I left because I told the guy after me I’d be back. I fucking lost man, i LOST lol…they weren’t kidding when they said they’d make it harder…it’s not like it was impossible hard but it certainly seemed harder than the people who did it the first time in STL i believe made it seem. They were told it would be harder after the fact so I guess this was the result.
They placed 25 black, collect 6 of these to win, along with 45 red, collect 7 of these to win a jabra bluetooth headset and like over 100 white ones which was for nothing. A lot of people did win though and I heard from several people, including my friend who works for the ad agency hosting the challenge that about 30 people won in a row after I left then people started losing like crazy. I don’t know what the hell that was about but I was kinda mad to hear it…maybe they started stuffing the shit when people weren’t winning then when mad ppl started winning they switched it back to the normal joint. But anyway they gave out 100 in total and when I was leaving there was like 15 left, with still a long ass line. The rain had stopped though.
@ Stormy…I’m glad that was a joke and if it was sorry I took it the wrong way.
I did the Storm challenge at 5:30…was online at 3 after registering, then left the line and went back to work…went there after work and rejoined the line from where I left because I told the guy after me I’d be back. I fucking lost man, i LOST lol…they weren’t kidding when they said they’d make it harder…it’s not like it was impossible hard but it certainly seemed harder than the people who did it the first time in STL i believe made it seem. They were told it would be harder after the fact so I guess this was the result.
They placed 25 black, collect 6 of these to win, along with 45 red, collect 7 of these to win a jabra bluetooth headset and like over 100 white ones which was for nothing. A lot of people did win though and I heard from several people, including my friend who works for the ad agency hosting the challenge that about 30 people won in a row after I left then people started losing like crazy. I don’t know what the hell that was about but I was kinda mad to hear it…maybe they started stuffing the shit when people weren’t winning then when mad ppl started winning they switched it back to the normal joint. But anyway they gave out 100 in total and when I was leaving there was like 15 left, with still a long ass line. The rain had stopped though.
Sorry this joint posted twice even when I wasn’t done but anyway Stormy I don’t believe a vote for McCain is a vote for racism, that would be asinine and ignorant…it was just the way you said it but you said it was a joke so sorry for the earlier comment.
On another note I just received the mail-in for the Private Storm sale so I will be getting the Storm on monday since it’ll only be costing me at most $150 because of the new every two upgrade…I’m still hoping I win the Storm Hunt because I got all the codes from the same friend of mine. I’ll either sell that if I win or give it to someone as a christmas present.
I got to test the Storm out from some Verizon guy at the challenge and the build was very old. I’ve got to apologize to BG and Marc because I was hard on them for their comments about the Storm. Some idiot had opened up too many programs on an old as build and the shit was acting the fuck up. The accelerometer didn’t even want to work and the keyboard didn’t even want to show up. I had to tell the Verizon guy to restart it and maybe it’ll function again, which tells you this guy didn’t know what the hell he was doing. I was even standing there telling another guy some of the things about the phone because the Verizon guy had no clue about it. And this wasn’t someone from the ad agency either if anyone is wondering. When it finally worked the screen was very responsive. I loved how the browser worked and how easy it was to use. Typing took a little getting used to but for the 2 mins I had with the thing I could tell it wouldn’t be that hard with familiarity. The whole screen clicking down was like a WTF moment even knowing before hand what the phoen does. It worked well and you definitely couldn’t get to anything or open anything by just touching it. I tried typing a few words and it wasn’t that bad even for an early build. It registered all my inputs just fine. The best part about the phone was the browsing and the scrolling. With those you don’t need to click and that’s very nice because the only time you’re clicking is to select something and to zoom in or out. That made scrolling through newsweek.com (I think that’s the site I first had access to nice and easy). I tried copy and paste and that shit wasn’t making any sense to me so I gave up lol. I guess you have to read up on it or get used to it but I tried using two fingers and stuff and it wasn’t working so I left. The look and build of it felt great. Even the dummy model the guy who was giving the Challenge commentary and screaming everywhere was holding felt great in my hands. The Verizon guy said he got that model from one of the testing labs a while ago and the new ones being released next week are working just fine. I did give BG and Marc a hard time for their comments on the device and although I left it satisfied I can see where they would have issues with it…well the old firmware model at least. It wasn’t anything that would stop me from getting the phone though. It’s use is so innovative that even that alone should make anyone want it. That’s especially for those who want exclusive phones before anyone else or those who like their friends looking at their phone and wishing it was theirs. I’m with both categories so I’ll definitely get it on Monday.
@likeabite
Sorry you lost! I guess they weren’t sticking to the roof so you could just pick the black ones off like others said. You would have to wait 4-6 weeks for them to send it to you anyway, and I know you wouldn’t want to do that. I don’t think you will be able to get one on Monday (11/17)at the VIP preview. From what I’ve been told they will have them there for you to demo, but they won’t be in stock until the 21st. You will be able to reserve one so you will be assured to pick it up on Friday, but not walk out with it on Monday.
Ah…the benefits of a business account. We have 25 PDAs and our own business account manager. I suppose she takes good care of us. She even invited me to a luncheon two weeks ago where Verizon previewed the Storm. They showed their other line of phones and PDAs for about an hour and a half. Then a RIM representative did a demo on the Storm. Nothing like a live demo. Some minor problems with his version of the Storm. But he claimed to have an old version of the OS and the problems had been fixed.
Been waiting so long for this. BTW there is no big deal with wi-fi because you have to have the Blackberry service to use it with Verizon and that comes with internet services. Read the contract with Verizon so RIM Blackberry includes wi-fi so to speak with there service unlike Iphone where you can buy a voice plan and steal the wi-fi service from someone else who actually pays for it. Do not think anyone has really thought about why Blackberry does not have wi-fi because Blackberry deep down is an internet service if you truly think about it.
So I just won a Storm at the NYC contest today. woohoo so excited. only bad thing is that i have to wait 4 weeks to get it in the mail.
Well i have a great Question, Well as we all know and have heard there have been some past software OS’s on this Storm that havnt been working that great and from what we heard that the newest OS is great well once this unit hits the streets and thousands of hands start clicking there way threw and finding minor bugs, The Question is verizon going to make an easier or and Awarness to upgrades that may become avaliable as people slowly report problems. No device is perfect and we all know and we all know that upgrading the blackberry curve to 4.5 software verizon was basically the last to release i hope that when upgrading this storm that they will take the little knowledge that apple has done with the iphone and make it easy like that just plug and it will find naything new and lets hope that verizon wont be stuborne and make us wait.
@ Stormy…Yea they were sticking but I only found one good one sticking up top when it came to me…everyone else that I was watching outside the both had a whole bunch, lol. If you can’t buy it then it’s just dumb because I could just demo the device at various places like I did today…the invite has a # so I’ll call them on monday and see if I can order and renew my contract at the same time.
Hey i just talked to vzw and they said it will prob be $409.99 without a contract upgrade. we will see!!!
ya, the only bummer is it dosnt come with wifi…but isnt verizon’s 3g almost as fast???
BB Desktop Manager? I use it all the time but don’t really know if it updates OS.