The gales of the Blackberry Storm just weren't strong enough to wash away Apple's iPhone success. Between its average reviews and customer complaints over bugs and OS stability, the Storm seems to have severely underperformed in customer satisfaction. And now, the latest figures from Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) show that it has underperformed in sales, too.
Only half million Blackberry Storm devices were sold in the U.S. since November, according to the Wall Street Journal . During the same holiday period, Apple sold more than two million iPhones, totaling over a quarter of the North American smartphone market. RIM's shares have also dropped more than 5 percent since news broke that Storm users are still unhappy with their experience on the device.
Speculation from various sources blames Blackberry Storm's woes on the phone's software glitches, crashes, and bugs. Many of these these problems occurred because of Research In Motion's eagerness to make the Storm available in time for the 2008 holiday season, starting with Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year.
RIM tried to address users' complaints and released a software fix for the Blackberry Storm in December. Despite that fix, many users remained unsatisfied with the device's basic functionality, such as the lack of a conventional QWERTY keyboard when the phone is used in portrait mode-a feature that's available on the iPhone and other touch-screen smart phones. RIM officials acknowledged Storm's further software issues and promised another update that will solve many of the phone's problems.
But the Blackberry Storm will soon face even more competition. A new smartphone battle is coming up this year with the imminent launch of Palm's much-hyped Pre. Nokia is also joining the game with its N97, so RIM should address users' concern quickly.
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1 comments:
I have a Blackberry Storm, I do not own an Iphone, but just from seeing friends Iphones I can see that the Storm just can't compete with the overall smoothness of graphics and stability of the Iphone.
I already put on the software fix and still when I flip through pictures it's just not as smooth and sometimes just seems to momentarily freeze and I have to do something twice before it responds.
Also even after about 4-5 months of having one, I still hit the wrong keys on the onscreen keyboard. I can't tell if it's just me or an issue with the phone.
I have Verizon Wireless or else I would just get an iPhone, but alas I can't do that.
I don't use the Storm for as much as other people, I just use it as a phone and for GPS with VZ Navigator, and for email, but that is it... So I can't really attest to the stability of most apps on it.
It's a good piece of equipment if you are stuck with Verizon, otherwise stick with the iPhone.
I do like the Clickthrough or Surepress approach, it's nice touching the screen and knowing you can't really mess anything up without pressing down. That's a good idea.
Just my 2 cents.
M.
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