Leaked Verizon Wireless Road Map: BlackBerry Storm 2, Curve 2, Motorola Sholes In 2009
The document highlighting mobile devices Verizon Wireless plans to have in stores by the bustling holiday smartphone buying season was acquired by popular gadget blog Boy Genius Report and reprinted.
The BlackBerry Storm 2, which Verizon Wireless has already promised will be available by year's end, is expected to hit in October, the document indicates. The price for the awaited successor to the original BlackBerry Storm, the first-ever touch-screen smartphone from Research In Motion (RIM), was listed as"to be determined" on the information sheet.
Following the BlackBerry Storm 2 is what Verizon Wireless has listed as the BlackBerry Curve 2. It was unclear what model BlackBerry Curve the Curve 2 is, but if early guesses are correct, it would be Verizon's version of RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8530. Dubbed the BlackBerry Aries, the Curve 8530 is expected to be a CDMA version of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 with the addition of Wi-Fi.
Another hot device expected to hit Verizon Wireless this year is the Motorola Sholes, which the document lists as having a late October release. The Motorola Sholes will mark the first-ever Google Android device for Verizon. It is also one of Motorola's early entrants into the Android game. Earlier this year, Motorola said it would focus heavily on Android devices in a bid to stem slumping device sales and declining revenues. The Motorola Sholes will be the early fruits of that endeavor.
Early reports indicate that the Motorola Sholes smartphone will feature a 3.7-inch touch-screen, a microSD/microSDHC expansion slot, a 5-megapixel camera, USB 2.0 support, GPS, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth 2.0 and support for a host of audio and video formats. The Sholes is expected to run about $199 and feature Google Android 2.0, dubbed "eclair."
Other notable devices expected to land on Verizon Wireless' network by the end of 2009 include the $370 Samsung Rogue, which is expected by the end of this month; the Samsung Intensity, expected to run $160 and arrive in September; the $230 Nokia Twist 7705, expected in September; the LG Chocolate Touch, which will be released in October for $230; and the HTC Razzle/Blitz 2, which has an expected release in late October.
The Verizon Wireless road map curiously leaves out the Verizon version of the Palm Pre, which Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said would be available via Verizon by the end of the year. In a May Webcast, McAdam said the Palm Pre and another device from Palm, along with the BlackBerry Storm 2, would reach Verizon's network within six months.