BlackBerry Storm Hits The Bargain Bin
In a bid to boost sales and better leverage its position against Apple's breadwinner, the BlackBerry Storm is now available at a deep discount through Verizon Wireless.
Amazon is offering the Storm for $99 with a two-year service contract, a $100 discount on the smartphone, and $400 off an unsubsidized Storm. Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless is including the Storm in its buy-one-get-one free promotion, which lets new customers buy a pair of Storms for $199 with a new two-year contract or renewal.
The deal through Amazon is rebate-free, meaning the user does nothing but buy the device and sign the contract.
The price drop comes amid speculation that the Storm is underperforming in a market dominated by the iPhone and other touch-screen titans like the T-Mobile G1, a Google Android-based touch-screen built by HTC.
While some in the industry have called the Storm a flop, Verizon Wireless has defended the device, noting that more than 1 million BlackBerry Storms were sold in the device's first two months on the market.
Still, moving 1 million smartphones is small potatoes in an iPhone-dominated world, where the Apple's iPhone 3G model pushed 2.4 million units in its first quarter alone.
Since its release in November, the Storm vs. iPhone comparisons have been plenty, with the Storm unable to get an edge over the consumer-focused Apple device.
The Storm got off to a rocky start, with early adopters facing technical bugs, software issues, operating system glitches and a host of other hurdles with 3G devices. RIM fixed many of the problems with a December software update. RIM also faced issues before the Storm's release. It was originally planned to hit stores in October but was called back to fix software issues. RIM was still able to make the critical Black Friday in-store date, but by that point anticipation had waned.