BlackBerry Storm sells out hard and fast

by Nilay Patel posted Nov 21st 2008 at 3:03PM

We don't have official confirmation of this yet, but we're hearing from all over that Verizon's launch of the BlackBerry Storm has so far been a raging success -- from what we can tell, it's sold out nearly everywhere, and the online store is buckling under the load of thousands of eager buyers. Sounds like RIM's on track for a hit -- any of you have any luck scoring a Storm today? How'd it go? Digging the SurePress screen? Hit us up in comments!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Verizon Wireless

Tags: blackberry, blackberry storm, BlackberryStorm, rim, storm, verizon

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Neutral

Keith Bartholomew @ Nov 21st 2008 3:30PM

1) Phone freezes up after button presses constantly.
2) Keyboards are a joke as screen calibration is off and it is difficult to choose the correct keys.
3) Phone goes into camera mode quite a bit while trying to use the keyboard.
4) Due to poor screen calibration, trying to choose a specific application or function is very frustrating.
5) Most reviews stated (Yours included) that this phone required way more steps to get something done and that is very accurate.

If you are looking for a cool looking phone just to make calls, the voice quality & reception is the best I have ever had from a Verizon phone. If you are looking for a phone to make calls and listen to music the phone is fine.

Summary: I'm going to spend time with this phone over the weekend, but chances are it is going back to Verizon. This phone has an incredible number of bugs that should have been addressed before it was released.

I'm rating the overall functions and performance for a business user or a Blackberry fan a D+

Neutral

Cryogen @ Nov 21st 2008 3:25PM

Preordered mine at Best Buy. I'm at work with 1.5hrs left raring to go pick it up. They better not have sold it or heads...will...roll.

I have not been discouraged by the rough reviews to still purchase it, I will let my personal experience speak for itself. I still have 30 days to decide so we'll see what happens.

Neutral

murph @ Nov 21st 2008 3:32PM

my VZW rep just called and said the 2 BB Storms we pre-ordered won't be here until Wed at the earliest.

Neutral

The D Train @ Nov 21st 2008 3:32PM

If you have not ordered your storm yet today, we are now being told that all orders placed after 2pm est are not going to be shipped until december 5th, please bare this in mind if you call us to order, as we cannot make any exceptions to this time frame.

Highly Ranked

Anthony @ Nov 21st 2008 3:44PM

Very disappointed. Beautiful looking phone, pretty interface, but as stated in the review, they shoulda kept this baby in the oven a little longer. Maybe a software update will fix all of these bugs, but it isn't nearly as smooth or crisp as the iPhone. I don't believe in comparing the two, it's just not fair to do, however, I feel strongly that I will be keeping my iPhone and sending this thing back to Verizon. Purchased the device this morning at Best Buy with my two best friends, and they don't like it as well. I have a strong feeling this will be the consensus among many of the early adopters. Great phone, but def needed more time before it was launched.

Highest Ranked

Dirtdog @ Nov 21st 2008 3:39PM

I got a storm this morning and so far I am pretty pleased. My store only recieved 5 phones and i was number 2 in line,so it worked out for me.It is no iphone killer but it still is a nice little gadget and head and shoulders cooler then anything Verizon has ever had. The touch screen does take some time to get used to but i already find myself texting with relative ease. The camera is solid and the browser is quick, so for me the storm is a success. It definitely will not be for everybody but if you are looking for something new/different give it a shot.

Neutral

Crysti @ Nov 21st 2008 3:52PM

Hello all, I think I might have a really silly question, but oh well. I need to know if anyone knows where I can get that wallpaper that the above Storm has. I know its just a portion of a really big peice of art that has all sorts of online groups and things...

Its a peice of art that depicts the online world as a mega city, Engadget, Yahoo, Google, Facebook etc. have their own buildings and stuff like that.

I KNOW I have seen the peice before....I just can't remember the name and can't possibly think of any search terms for it...

Any help appreciated!

Neutral

Anthony @ Nov 22nd 2008 1:44PM

Hey, just go to google images type in eboy pixel art, or eboy tokyo art, it should come up. I already have it as my background for my storm.

Highly Ranked

Mike @ Nov 23rd 2008 9:12AM

Got mine.
Very nice phone. Some tiny issues have to be fixed as said in your review. However, the phone is great: good signal, fast browsing, music and videos work very well.
The screen is fantastic.

I'm sure RIM will provide an update soon to fix the minor issues.

The clickable screen is weird at the beginning - mainly because it is new. After 2 hours of use (scrolling, typing several emails, downloading every single IM client - playing some games), you are fine. Not as fast as I used to be with a curve, but much faster that I was with my 1st generation iPhone.

The integration of the IM clients is perfect.
Very happy with it, waiting for the software update and it will be ideal.

Neutral

t-pain @ Nov 21st 2008 4:08PM

Greeley, CO Verizon store is sold out and does not know when they will be getting more. Sounds like they only got a few in-- what happened to the reports that 400,000 of these things were being shipped to stores for the release?

Neutral

Hike15 @ Nov 21st 2008 4:10PM

just came from my local verizon store where the computers have crashed, but they apparently ran out of storms at the warehouse by 11

Neutral

BigRed83 @ Nov 21st 2008 4:23PM

S. New England. Talked to a rep about 1hr ago, when the system comes up he will call. He's optimistic that I will have on by Wed. Maybe he knows something everyone else doesn't

Neutral

Berry Zito @ Nov 23rd 2008 9:14PM

I've had a Storm for 6 hours but Verizon can't activate service for new customers. All I can do is poke at the screen and imagine what its like. This is insanely annoying.

Neutral

MadMike @ Nov 21st 2008 5:11PM

In Philly a few VZW stores had long lines. There is one right down the street from my firehouse. Talked to a few people who grabbed one - they all really liked the phone and said the clicking touchscreen was something they had to get used to.

Neutral

Gib @ Nov 21st 2008 5:43PM

I got one of (if not the very) last Storms at the VZW store we hit up this morning before work. It is a little slow (part is the phone, part is me) but im loving it so far. Its just so much different then my 8830

Highest Ranked

Ian @ Nov 21st 2008 6:17PM

Heads up, I'm a VZW employee:

The current status on all direct-fulfillments for the BB Storm: If you placed an order today after 2pm EST, they will NOT ship out from our warehouses until after December 5th. Some stores MAY be receiving more as inventory levels out, but if you were not able to successfully get one today when the systems went down, try back tomorrow.

Also, if you have have a multi-line acct, and want to order several Storms, our systems may or may not allow the order for secondaries to go through due to pending orders.

Lowest Ranked

Michael @ Nov 21st 2008 7:16PM

Ok, obviously this person does not work for verizon wireless cause he is completely wrong. If you ordered a phone today it will be shipped out no later than the 25th of nov. It is still a small wait but nearly as long as he said. It will be next day delivery as well from the day it is shipped. Basicly everything he just said is wrong.

Highest Ranked

elgee02 @ Nov 21st 2008 7:36PM

VZW emp here and Ian is right, you sir are wrong. I'm looking at my corporate email right now informing me that phones ordered a around 2pm cdt it will not even ship out until Dec 5th. Sucks I know but it's the truth.

Highest Ranked

t-pain @ Nov 21st 2008 8:01PM

The VZW store here in Greeley, CO said the same thing-- anything ordered after noon MST will not ship until Dec 5.

Lowest Ranked

Michael @ Nov 21st 2008 9:06PM

Then maybe you should check your e-mail again. It says it will be shipped out NO LATER than the 5th, meaning it will be shipped before then, not after. LEARN TO READ.

Highest Ranked

Ian @ Nov 21st 2008 9:30PM

Michael, no I am not completely wrong and yes I do work for VZW. I am a sales rep at a Circuit City location. We only got 4 Storms and sold out within 20 minutes of opening. And yes, our corporate email stated that all direct-fulfillments after 2pm would ship out ON or AFTER December 5th.

Now, the reason you may have been told differently is if the location you went to ordered from a different warehouse.

Finally, don't claim that I "obviously don't work for verizon wireless". It only makes you look ignorant.

Neutral

tra la la @ Nov 21st 2008 11:14PM

oh...my....god...

if ordered on 11/21 after 12p local time, up until close of business, will ship by 12/05.

if ordered on 11/22, will ship by 12/15.

I could find no info if ordered after 11/22 at this time.

Neutral

Bob @ Nov 21st 2008 6:33PM

Most of the gowireless stores on the west coast had a few at 3 ish today.

Neutral

Kristin @ Nov 21st 2008 6:59PM

My local Circut City only got 2 in and they were sold out immediately after opening the store, however, they did offer to ship it overnight with Saturday delivery by noon and gave it to me for $199.99 without having to send in the mail-in rebates.

Neutral

GETYOID @ Nov 21st 2008 7:53PM

Well thats because you are a girl and probably you're hot. Otherwise, the rest of us get squat.

Neutral

Best Buy Mobile @ Nov 21st 2008 7:38PM

Best Buy Mobile stores will be getting shipments in tomorrow morning. Some will go to pre-sales, remainder will go to walk-ins. They will also start reserving phones with the $50 deposit again so further shipments will be held for pre-sales.

Neutral

elgee02 @ Nov 21st 2008 7:38PM

My store in SoCal had about 60 this morning. We had a line of 20 people when we opened at 7am and it was steady after that. We sold out by about 10:30 am.

Neutral

MidnightDT @ Nov 21st 2008 8:04PM

FOR ALL THE PEOPLE CONCERNED ABOUT SPEED OF THE OS:

RIM has said a free OTA software upgrade is due for the storm in a "few weeks" that should dramatically increase performance/speed/reliability of the OS.

Neutral

foamman @ Nov 22nd 2008 5:43PM

Actual shipping schedule for the Storm

>Orders that were placed on 11/21 by 2pm local time will ship no later that 11/25
>Orders that were placed on 11/21 after 2pm local time through the end of day will ship NO LATER THAN 12/5
>Orders placed on 11/22 will ship no later than 12/15

Neutral

romeyp @ Nov 22nd 2008 9:10PM

I found a website that is selling the Storm but wonder if it is real.
Has anyone heard of this site before coms2net.com ?
Take a look and let me know what you think.
Thanks

Neutral

Tony Ortiz @ Nov 21st 2008 9:14PM

We sell this thing. And don't get me wrong, I'm not biased at all when it comes to phones but this thing was a piece of shit.

I had to reboot it twice while activating the phone due to the accelerometer not working.

Plus, it was just soooo slow.

Neutral

AGP @ Nov 21st 2008 10:18PM

Going to return mine.

The Storm runs like a pig. Alarmingly slow responses to screen presses.This thing strikes me as waaay half-baked.

I selected a different ringtone, hit the test button and something like 5 seconds passed before it pegan to play. Whoa, that's bad. Made me wonder, will a phone call's ring delay 5 seconds before it plays?

But this bit makes me decide to return it: I purchased the Storm holster clip along with the Storm. As I was slipping the Storm into the holster one of the plastic front buttons caught on the side, bent outward, and nearly snapped off had I not caught it. What flimsy, cheap, breakable buttons! Almost snapped off within 6 hours?

No. I'm taking it back before something actually breaks and I'm stuck with it.

Neutral

Glen @ Nov 22nd 2008 11:13PM

you can ajust the hover time, sensitivity and tap interval to you personal preferences any time you want, you can change the borswer from blackberry's to IE or Firefox easily and you can disable the camers shiortcut key on the side that tends to activate the camera frequently. Add that to the fact that RIM will be releasing a softwear upgrade soon to fix any bugs

that addresses almost every single issue in this thread, and if you want to bitch that everything should have been "perfect" at day of launch, well you obviously haven't owned an I-phone.... how many updates JUST on the second one at this point???

Neutral

jnichols959 @ Nov 21st 2008 11:23PM

disclaimer: i'm an iPhone owner that's generally happy *and* still looking for the next better smart phone.

Was psyched that this might be the phone that got me to replace mine but it's not.

* should be a great touch smart phone for folks not already used to a blackberry or an iPhone
* might be different enough from core blackberry behavior to put off hard core blackberry users
* will probably keep the majority of vzw folks that would have otherwise jumped ship to ATT/iPhone from actually doing so

My main gripe is with the surepress. It seems to be harder to use than a physical qwerty or a non-click virtual keyboard (lack of strong spelling correction and the feeling that the click doesn't actually help but only hinder).

The browser did a great job of providing a desktop experience. Right up there with safari mobile, G1 and the new opera mobile.

App transitions felt very slow and the prevalent spinning clock waiting graphic only made it more annoying - though I imagine this and other reported issues will get worked out over time.

Overall a very strong phone but in my view it's strong for a rather specific slice of the smartphone market.

Neutral

Ginny @ Nov 21st 2008 11:25PM

For the customers that purchased the Storm, check your SW version and then head on over to www.verizonwireless.com/data. There is a good chance that you would benefit from a SW update that was posted early this morning. A certain amount of inventory was shipped with an older version and the new version resolves several common bugs (slow accelerometer, lag time, screen not correctly calibrated, etc). If you were a customer that was one of the first in line for a Storm chances are that you may have purchased one with older software and can upgrade NOW, you should have BB SW 4.7 on your device and can upgrade over the web without using Blackberry Desktop Manager

Highest Ranked

The Persona @ Nov 21st 2008 11:41PM

The only reason they "sold out" was because they were short in stock! Inside scoop on Best Buy's: Some even carried as low as FOUR STORM'S a store!!! uh DUH that's going to sell out! wth?

Neutral

Wolfeman @ Nov 22nd 2008 8:26AM

Thats a good point but all the Verizon stores got a lot more and still were sold out within an hour or two of opening...

Neutral

MasonicAngel @ Nov 22nd 2008 6:39AM

All you impatient idiots that are returning yours will regret it when the OS updates fix the speed and little os glitches. If i recall correctly when I owned the ist gen iphone there were 6 od updates in the first 5 months. they also are continuously updating the 3G . So if you like the phone just be patient!!

Neutral

Superguy @ Nov 22nd 2008 1:54AM

BGR has an interesting take on the Storm debut and OS versions. With the multiple layers of stickers, it looks like there was some downgrading going on.

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/11/21/the-real-story-behind-the-verizon-blackberry-storm-os/

Neutral

Berto @ Nov 22nd 2008 10:20AM

I got to my store around 11ish. They had a lot of storms in stock but the systems went down. What they did was take down my name, my number, the plan i wanted, and said they will call me tomorrow to let me know when all my information has been processed in the computer so i can just walk in pay and walk out. my 2 storms(one for me and one for a family share) have been put to the side and are being held for me until i go in and pick them up.

Neutral

Wolfeman @ Nov 22nd 2008 8:21AM

Everywhere in Orange County was sold out by 10am. I lucked out and find one at BestBuy.

I love it. Its not perfect but its awesome and I think with a few updates it will be an iPhone killer...

Neutral

livinonnosleep @ Nov 22nd 2008 10:47AM

I have said this in previous blogs but it bears repeating, having played with it at first i too thought it was aufully sluggish on the screen response. I went into the settings on the phone in the screen/keyboard options and changes the swipe sensitivity up to 5 (default is 3) and the hover period at 100 (default i believe) and the tap interval to 100 (default 400). It made a world of difference in screen response and typing and from then forth it worked like a charm. If you are experiencing the same issues try adjusting those settings it may help. As it stands i'm really excited to get mine.

Neutral

Surfboard 32 @ Nov 22nd 2008 11:07AM

Issues that i have with my phone:
1. It takes 3-5 button pushes (from the screen or the "answer" button) to answer the phone!
2. It takes a miracle to select something near the edge of the screen. Why you MIGHT be able to highlight something, it takes a vote in congress to allow you to "click" it.
3. It crashed out of no where. Actually it sent me a vibrate alert to let me know that the screen no longer come up. I thought i turned off. Powering on/off did not work. I had to pull the batter, then wait for the 5-10 min reboot. (this thing boots up slower than my computer!)
4. Lag. let me say that again, lag. I am not talking about the 3-5 seconds it take to flip the screen. I'm talking the 1-3 minutes it takes to exit out of the menu or flip the screen! In essence it becomes frozen where you can't do anything else.

Well i have 29 more days to go.

Neutral

tra la la @ Nov 22nd 2008 1:45PM

#1 reason PDAs lag: morons back out of programs instead of closing them.

with the Storm (and any blackberry, I think), the red "End" button just puts the program in the background and allow you to do something else, whereas the back arrow actually closes out of the program.

best practice - if you're done with something, press the menu button and choose "close application".

in the 3-4 different storm units that I've played with, they were all slow responding... until I closed the 5+ background programs that weren't closed properly. just like a regular computer with too much stuff open, it's going to lag.

Highly Ranked

Anthony @ Nov 22nd 2008 2:01PM

So I got the storm around 10am yesterday morning. Wasnt a line for it at all, granted I was in a little hick town in P.A, I live in Jersey, and I heard lines were crazy. Fortunately I was up in PA visiting my gf. So I checked this phone out with no intentions on purchasing it. I played with one demo. Was horrible. Played with second one, was a lot better. Apparently some need flash updates and some were shipped without it. But thanks to the second proper working one, it made up my mind as to wanting to purchase this phone.

At first it was a bitch to use. Slow, not accurate. But after playing with it, I got used to it. its a sleek phone. really nice looking, beautiful screen. I love in the interface of it. its taking me a little while to get used to the suretype keypad, but im getting the hang of that. I came from owning a voyager. I find myself using the storms keyboard just as a quick and well as the voyagers now that Ive had time to play with it more.

I do agree with others however that their is indeed a lag between switching the screen/phone different ways. But, with all phones, there will be a fix for it. In time when bugs are all fixed and updates come, this phone will be a great handset. I love it now with its flaws, so with them fixed in time, it will be great. I hate the 30 dollar blackberry plan but eh, it's worth it. With every time using this phone I find something new I didn't know about. I've already added a few simple apps, myspace, facebook, espn, I like how you can save images from a website right onto the phone and use it as a wallpaper. You can use the regular songs you upload into the phone as a ringtone. which I should also mention, sound quality on this phone is the best. Its incredibly loud to play music. The videos on it come out beautifully.

I recommend this phone. Its worth it right now, and in the long wrong, will be even more worth it. I hate how people are so quick to judge its flaws. Everything has its flaws at first, nothing comes out perfect from the get go. In time everything gets fixed, everything works the way it was supposed to. RIM and Verizon are two huge companies obviously, and they wouldnt tarnish their rep by having a phone like this not live up to its expectations. They'll do what needs to be done, we just need patience. ( which I became very good at after waiting 4 hours to get this phone because systems were down )

Neutral

gerbick @ Nov 22nd 2008 2:38PM

I just want that desktop image. Where is it from?

Neutral

Chuck @ Nov 22nd 2008 3:03PM

Bought mine yesterday at 8:30am from a large corporate Verizon store. That store got 50. Opened at 8am and I got the last one at 8:30am. I'm a business owner and a gadget hound. Previous phone was a Moto Q. It has taken me a day to get used to. Yes, the clicking screen is odd at first, but with a little time, it becomes quite comfortable. Just like double tapping on another screen at just the right interval, this one takes time to get to know. Also, as others have posted, changing the settings for screen response makes a huge difference. I have version 4.7.0.65. It has not locked up nor has it been particularly slow. I have been able to answer the phone from the green phone key from any screen, including when I have been tethered to my laptop (as I am right now!) The tethered modem seems faster than my Verizon Rev A Aircard. I don't understand that, exactly, but I'm OK with it. I think the phone is a very good option for many people. It will not be for everyone, but then no phone is. I like it. I'll keep it.

To adjust screen response:
Click OPTIONS
Click SCREEN/KEYBOARD
Scroll to the bottom and find Touchscreen
Adjust Tap Interval lower (Mine is at 100)
Adjust Hover Period (Mine is at 100)
Adjust Swipe Sensitivity (Mine is at 6)

Note that many of the menus are longer than one screen. Swipe up or down to find the rest of them. It's easy to miss the TINY LITTLE blue arrows at the corners of the screen when there is more hidden. This applies to many of the menus.

Neutral

stephanie @ Nov 22nd 2008 4:23PM

i actually work for an indirect verizon location...and the reason the stores only got 10-50 storms IS because there is a software update that needs to be done on the phone. Im not really sure why they just didnt wait to launch ALL of them when the issue is fixed, instead of launching a few and having everyone hate them, and bring them back. Makes no sense.

Neutral

Tad Horiuchi @ Nov 22nd 2008 7:09PM

I've found a few Verizon Wireless retailers in my area that still have some Storms in stock.
Clovis - 6929 N. Willow Ave, Suite 102
Dinuba - 450 W. El Monte Way, Suite F
Fresno - 779 E. Shaw Ave
Fresno - 3739 W. Shaw Ave
Hanford - 240 N. 12th Ave, Suite 107
Kingsburg - 902 Sierra St
Porterville - 1278 W. Henderson Ave
Reedley - 1520 E Manning Ave
Visalia - 2031 S Mooney Blvd
Visalia - 2226 S. Mooney Blvd, Suite A-11