Touchscreen BlackBerry details leaked

Storm breaks

Posted in Mobile, 17th September 2008 16:37 GMT

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Details of the BlackBerry Storm have been leaked around the internet, apparently coming from internal documents and one video presentation, showing how RIM plans to take on the iPhone.

The handset, previously rumoured to be called 'Thunder', will apparently be exclusive to Verizon in the USA and features a touch screen with haptic feedback and an interface offering easy access to a more consumer-focused array of applications.

The information comes from a "Talking Points" document, apparently distributed to staff prior to an official launch and leaked, and a video that was supposedly distributed internally but is now available online.

Making the handset exclusive to Verizon is surprising, especially as the Talking Point document talks about being connected in "...over 195 destinations world wide" which would indicate that the handset supports both CDMA and GSM technologies, though it seems that 3G is only supported on CDMA networks (EV-DO).

For a while, the Verizon web site was offering to take punters' email addresses and let them know when the Storm was available. The page swiftly vanished (though not from the Google cache).

The video, A Minute with Mike, is hosted on vztvonline.com, a domain owned by one Tony Marks but registered to the same address as Verizon's office. A YouTube version was around but swiftly removed, offering the possibility that these leaks are all part of a carefully orchestrated publicity campaign.

Either way, the BlackBerry Storm looks entertaining as a handset and should enable RIM to claim it's making a credible reply to Apple's iPhone. ®

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