Verizon Wireless and Vodafone Announces BlackBerry Storm Officially

Verizon Wireless, Vodafone Group and Research In Motion (RIM) today announced that the BlackBerry Storm will be available later this fall, exclusively to Verizon Wireless customers in the U.S. and Vodafone customers in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand. It is also confirmed that the BlackBerry Storm will supportssingle-touch, multi-touch and gestures for intuitive and efficient application navigation. In the U.S., the BlackBerry Storm 9530 gives Verizon Wireless customers 3G EV-DO Rev. A/CDMA technology - and (2100Mhz) UMTS/HSPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM for global use. The BlackBerry Storm 9500 from Vodafone supports (2100Mhz) UMTS/HSPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM networks. In Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand, Vodafone will support customers with its high-speed 3G mobile broadband networks.


“We are proud to introduce the first touch-screen based BlackBerry smartphone together with Verizon Wireless and Vodafone,” said Mike Lazaridis, president and co-chief executive officer at RIM. “The BlackBerry Storm is a revolutionary touch-screen smartphone that meets both the communications and multimedia needs of customers and solves the longstanding problem associated with typing on traditional touch-screens. Consumers and business customers alike will appreciate this unique combination of a large and vibrant screen with a truly tactile touch interface.”

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone comes with an innovative touch-screen that actually depresses ever so slightly when the screen is pressed. The user distinctly feels the screen being pressed and released with a gentle “click,” similar to the feeling of a key on a physical keyboard or a button on a mouse. In addition to the familiar navigation keys (”phone,” “menu” and “escape”) that are common to other BlackBerry smartphones, the new BlackBerry Storm adds support for multi-touches, taps, slides and other touch-screen gestures, so customers can easily highlight, scroll, pan and zoom for smooth navigation.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone also features a built-in accelerometer, allowing its touch-screen to automatically switch between landscape mode and portrait mode as the user rotates the handset - RIM’s SureType keyboard layout is available in portrait mode and a full QWERTY keyboard layout is available in landscape mode.

Navigating Web sites is fast and easy with the touch-screen interface that lets users double tap to zoom in and slide their fingers to scroll and pan. Icons along the bottom of the display allow for quickly accessing Web sites, switching between “Page View” and “Column View” as well as the ability to toggle between “Pan” mode and “Cursor” mode. The enhanced browser supports file downloading, streaming audio and video (RTSP), and with its built-in RSS support, new content from supported Web sites can be automatically pushed to the user.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone, available from Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, also includes the following features and functions:

* BlackBerry Internet Service, BlackBerry Unite!, BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Enterprise Server support
* Preloaded DataViz Documents to Go allows users to edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset
* 3.2 megapixel camera with variable zoom, auto focus and a powerful flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video
* Built-in GPS supports location-based applications and services, as well as geotagging of photos
* 1 GB of onboard memory storage and a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB of additional storage
* Media player that can play movies smoothly in full-screen mode, display pictures and slideshows quickly and manage an entire music collection; playlists can be created directly on the handset and there’s an equalizer with 11 preset filters - including “Lounge,” “Jazz” and “Hip Hop”
* A 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, support for Bluetooth® stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP) and dedicated volume controls
* Sleek, elegant design with contoured corners, stainless steel back and chrome accents surrounding its large (3.25″) glass lens; its exceptional 480 x 360 resolution at 184 ppi is crisp and bright with eye-pleasing clarity
* An ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts backlighting for ideal screen viewing and an accelerometer that allows customers to view applications in either portrait or landscape mode by simply rotating the handset
* Removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery that provides approximately six hours of talk time on 3G networks and 15 days of standby time

Additional details related to availability and pricing will be announced in the coming weeks. To learn more or register to be notified when the BlackBerry Storm is available, visit www.blackberry.com/storm, www.verizonwireless.com/storm or www.vodafone.co.uk/storm.