Verizon touts 1 million BlackBerry Storms sold to date
By Jacob Schulman 
posted January 27th 2009 7:36PM
posted January 27th 2009 7:36PM
[Via CrackBerry]
posted January 27th 2009 7:36PM
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I just jumped ship from Verizon and couldn't be happier!
The AT&T Fuze (HTC Touch Pro) turned out to be a WAY better phone than anything Verizon hoped to put out, for $40 less a month.
related to this post, the bold really disappointed me. Hopefully it did't disappoint a million other people. I don't own the phone but just today I asked someone how they liked it and she said she would give it a 2/5.
This just proves that if you advertise it heavily, they will come.
I think Apple already proved this by inserting a MacBook into almost every movie recently made.
Yeah, but the macbook is actually a good product.
i meant storm and it wont let me edit
This would be a lot more impressive if Apple hadn't moved 11 million+ iPhone 3Gs in just the second half of '08 (and to the extent the numbers are distorted by Apple's broader presence worldwide, whose fault is that?). Developers, do the math. 17 million iPhones (counting first gen), plus iTouch units, or 1 million Storms? There is a bright side. . .with such a pitiful user base, you won't be seeing "BerryFart" or something similar.
Honest question since people are bringing it up about the Storm...I see 'refurb' iPhones for sale...so what percentage of iPhones get returned? (I ask you as you've brought up the iPhone fsr)
And if we DON'T know...why the hell are we demanding to know the return rate of the Storm?
What a moot point, where the Storm has been out for only 3 months. You are comparing apples to oranges, and to even include essentially an MP3 in your comparison is just ridiculous. At the very least compare just the phones, and to the same extent, compare Apple's quarter sales upon release compared to RIM's quarter sales. Remember that this is just Verizon reporting, not including sales overseas of Vodaphone. I know this is the internet and all, but think logically!
RIM moved much more than 1 million units. The Storm has been on sale with Vodaphone in the UK and Bell and Telus in Canada, plus where ever else they are selling it.
I agree with you when you suggest developers shouldnt code for the Storm, but not because of the iPhone. There are TONS of traditional Blackberry users and if one should choose to develop for the Blackberry, chances are it would be for us. We like cool, non fart related apps too.
Just out of sheer interest, how many iPhones did Apple sell over the same period, does anybody know?
This coming from the same company that is running a simulated OS on the commercials....
I'm confused...are you talking about iPhone ads showing the OS running as impossible speeds? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7749435.stm or are you talking about the Storm?
Lets see ,storm with its bb loyalists fanbase sold 1 million in 70 days,it took iphone 3g 72 hours to sell 1 million in usa alone.(4 MONTHS PRIOR TO 112108) Wonder which one got blown outta the water?!?!Storm recorded one of the highest 30 day return/customer unsatisfaction rates in recent smartphone surveys.Iphone one of highest customer satisfaction rates of all, not only phones but apple devices. Sad part is this number from 112108-012109 iphone 3g has still outsold storm since its release. It is clear, the american electronics consumer has spoken. Not only that ,but has showed on what device they chose to lay trust on n drop their hard earned $200.INSANE.,OK BB FANBOIS,U CAN NOW BRING ON THE HATE MAIL
@ Shugg
The only hate mail in this thread until now has been yours; and its content is very silly too: everybody knows that kid's toys always sold more units than instruments for professionals, and will keep on doing so no matter how good those instruments are or how silly those toys.
You know, if your going to be an annoying troll, pleases do it in English.
What's funny is that the only reason the Storm so much is the same reason that the iPhone sold so much. Not because it was a good phone, but because it was advertised so heavily, (although the iPhone was advertised more). I saw a bunch of those John Krasinski ads for the Storm, and that thing looked hella cool. I saw the reviews and heard customer stories, and now know that the phone is not so great. Same thing with the iPhone. I saw a million of those "Hands of God" ads, and they also made the phone look incredible. But the iPhone suffers from a lot of shit too, but not as much as the storm.
So Shugg, shut up because the whole "more sales equals better phone" philosophy is BS.
I finally had a chance to spend some time on a Storm that belongs to a friend of mine. I had REALLY hoped that despite the bad press I would like it. WOW, that touch screen sucks. I mean sucks bad. My wife has a LG Dare and it rocks compared to the Storm. iPhone has the both beat. RIM had a chance to put some serious dents in the iPhone market, particluarly for people wanting more biz related apps. Maybe next time.
How many have been returned?
1 million with what 500,000 returned?
and we STILL can't get the number of Instincts sold.
they should make the blackberry app store
They are. They are currently taking submissions, and the store should be open in the next month or two.
I still havent seen one in the wild? And yes, i see iPhones everywhere
1 million sold, 300,000 returned, 200,000 false insurance claims for "damage" means really just 500k. And those 500k were just not smart enough to get out from under this brick before their 2 year contract locked in.
I have a storm and it's great. Sure, I cuss at it from time to time, but come to think of it...I did that with my Treo, I've done that with my Curve, old 8800, HTC 6700, so it's not really better at that regard. Then again no smartphone is, and please for fark's sake, fanboys, please stop. Your iphone is not a smartphone, it's a standard, multi-tasking phone and damn good one at that. But I'm so sorry to say, it's not a smartphone, so please, do the world a favor and shut the fark up all ready. Damn. Oh and for the record, I enjoy watching TDK while using BLUETOOTH headphones, the world sucks, doesn't it?
Are they still advertising this as a touch phone when it's actually a push phone? :P
For various reasons I'm not going to get into now I've been a dual customer for almost 10 years - AT&T + VERIZON. Whenever I could I've had some sort of smartphone from both which for a long time were some iteration of the latest available TREO. When the iPhone came about I did indeed get one from the get go and eventually upgraded to the 3G version when it became available. During the past year and a half I've hung on to my VZ Treo awaiting the next great thing from RIM on the VZ side. When the STORM became available I waited a while until the first software upgrade came out and finally got one all excited that there now was a viable smartphone from the competition. Being a fairly dedicated gadget geek I generally find that I can to a large degree figure the main interface out all by my self without getting to deep into the manual. Of course, some of the more in depth stuff will eventually require some reading but never the less, at this point in the smartphone world of competing Operating Systems there should be some ability to pick up the device and make most of it's functions work without to much laborious homework.
Well, after a full month of messing and geeking around with the STORM I find it extremely un-intuitive. Capable, yes - user friendly, no. And yes, I've owned several BlackBerries in the recent past so it's not like I've just grown used to one kind of thought process in terms of user interface. While I realize it is by far not even remotely close to a scientific approach I've queried quite a few colleagues about the STORM as I am in an industry where emails/texting/internet browsing is paramount on a mobile basis. The general conclusion I've come up with is that most users who have no or very limited experience with smartphones are in general amazed with its ability even though they all acknowledge it is cumbersome to use. However, the ones whom had used other smartphones in the past extensively almost to a person all were quite frustrated with it as they felt their experience in accessing various functions, settings and preferences were much easier to figure out elsewhere.
Personally I've found the by some lamented keyboard on the iPhone far superior to the one on the Storm. And I must echo the sentiment of my colleagues that the intuitiveness is way subpar as well. This past Sunday I returned my Storm and the accessories I purchased a month ago and am now considering going to the Curve though I wish there was a Bold in VZs quiver or better yet an iPhone. For the internet experience alone I'd ultimately go for the iPhone any day - so far at least - even though I do concur that there are many areas that are just screaming for improvement on the Apple device as well. I do find the escalating competition great for the consumer and am hoping they keep pushing each other to our benefit.
My officemate's story sounds very similar to yours, only he didn't keep the Storm as long. Good post.
Funny, my experience is the exact opposite. I wouldn't send texts and e-mails from my iPhone because I thought the typing was so bad. (I also have been carrying phones on both networks until recently). With the Storm, I'm sending them all the time. I type much better with the Storm. I agree the OS isn't nearly as easy to use as the iPhone but in my area AT&T sucks as does T-Mo. For good phone calls, the only option around here is Verizon. I've never used another Blackberry so I can't compare the Storm to another. But I've had Treos and an HTC. I think the Storm's OS is much better than theirs. WinMo bites it as far as I'm concerned.
You have to wonder how many of these Storm purchases would have been iPhone purchases if the iPhone was available on Verizon. Being tied to AT&T is costing Apple a ton of sales.
I think the Storm is a good phone and just like the iPhone has to have an OS mature. once that happens the Storm will be able to make up lost ground. It also has to have the developer base and app base that the iPhone has. Otherwise, you can compare the phones but you cannot compare the service. Verizon has a larger 3G network and better network than AT&T. The next move that Verizon/BB need to make is an app store that has plenty of apps and a lot of free apps with some paid for. For all of the iPhone fanboys, the iPhone 3G and recent software only made it compatible with Microsoft Exchange and that has always been compatible for BB.
in this day and age of intense corporate scrutiny, verizon/rim would be insane to overstate or falsify earnings/sales
They talk about how many sold, but not how many returned. We tested a couple units at my place of employment and immediately returned them. I didn't like the phone at all and I'm a BES Admin, so I'm not your average Blackberry user. Even with the most recent software update it still sucked. Can't wait for the new Curve though.
I returned mine before the 30 days were up and went back to my HTC Touch on Sprint so I can get the Pre when it's released. There is so many things wrong with the OS, there's no way I could continue to rely on it. Could never get Gmail to work with it correctly (no way to use IMAP instead of POP), took forever to unlock/lock, Visual Voicemail didn't work right and was more hassle to use than just calling, browser is a joke compared to iPhone and G1, frequently gets stuck in horizontal orientation when you set the phone down...I could go on and on.