RIM BlackBerry Storm sold 500,000 units in the first month?

This story has been updated on January 28th, 2009

We all know the story by now. Steve Jobs approaches Verizon Wireless with this iPhone device and Big Red shows him the door. One version of the story says that Verizon turned down Apple because of the demand by the latter to split some of the monthly wireless fees with the former. Another version says that the iPhone was rejected by Verizon because the carrier was working on a similar project already, the BlackBerry Storm. No one knows if any of this is true, but the fact is that one out of every 4 smartphones in someone's hands in North America is an iPhone. RIM and Verizon's attempt to recapture some of that market share is squarely on the head of the Storm and after one month, the first touchscreen BlackBerry has sold 500,000 units in the U.S. through Verizon Wireless according to analysts. The device has had a rocky first month to be sure, with complaints about buggy software and tepid reviews in the media. Reports of widespread returns hit the news. Verizon has already released one firmware upgrade with another one expected soon. Since just about every smartphone is compared to Apple's touchscreen device, how did the Storm stack up against the iPhone 3G after that phone's first month? AT&T sold 2.4 million units of the iPhone 3G after the first 30 days despite problems with 3G network connectivity and reports of users having their phone revert automatically to the slow-as-molasses EDGE network, even in areas where other AT&T units had strong 3G signals. The bottom line is that despite the problems, the BlackBerry Storm has had a decent first month of sales although coming in far short of the numbers posted by the iPhone 3G. Is the phone another iPhone killer gone bad, or is there still a chance that the Storm will be digging dirt on the grave of the Apple phone?

BlackBerry Storm Specifications | Review

source: WSJ via AlleyInsider