After months of rumors and leaked glimpses, Research In Motion (RIM) officially announced that their new BlackBerry® Storm™ mobile communication device, their first offering without a physical keyboard, will be available exclusively to Verizon Wireless customers in the U.S. and to Vodafone customers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand sometime in November.  RIM’s press release provided no specifics about the exact release date(s), saying only: “Additional details related to availability and pricing will be announced in the coming weeks.”

According to RIM, the Storm features “the world’s first tactile touch display that responds like a keyboard and combines multi-touch and gesture support for intuitive selection and application navigation”, referring to the device’s haptic feedback interface.

The Storm is designed to operate on a wide variety of communication network types. In the U.S., the Storm can utilize Verizon’s EV-DO Rev. A/CDMA – technology – and HSPA/UMTS as well as quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM for global use.  The Vodafone version supports HSPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM networks.  This flexibility means that the Storm is truly a phone that can be used worldwide, and which will support relatively fast speeds for full HTML Internet browsing.  Both wireless providers will also support text messaging (SMS), picture messaging (MMS), and instant messaging on the Storm.

RIM also says that the Storm’s removable and rechargeable battery will provide about 5.5 hours of talk time and up to 15 days of standby time.

The BlackBerry Storm’s most unique feature is its large (3.26”), 360 x 480 resolution touch screen interface, which according to early user reports, provides a distinct ‘click’ confirmation when depressed, providing a similar experience to using a real keyboard.  This is very different from other virtual touchscreen interfaces, such as the Apple iPhone’s, which provide no physical feedback.  The Storm touchscreen reportedly supports “multi-touches, taps, slides, swipes and other gestures, so customers can easily select, scroll, pan, and zoom for smooth navigation”, according to RIM. The tactile touch screen display gives customers a choice of virtual keyboards, using either RIM’s SureType® layout in portrait and a full QWERTY layout in landscape orientation - and users can switch between the two keyboards, even in the middle of writing a text message or e-mail, just by rotating the device.  Also, unlike the Apple iPhone, the BlackBerry Storm will support “cut and paste” functionality across applications.

Other features of the Storm will include:

• Support for seamless integration with corporate email systems
• Enterprise IT policy and security controls
• The ability to edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset
• 3.2 megapixel camera, with variable zoom, auto focus, and a flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video; the camera records video in half-VGA resolution (480×320) or at 176×144 for MMS
• 1 GB of memory storage and an 8 GB microSD memory card included in expandable memory card slot
• A media player for displaying pictures and slideshows, playing movies in full screen mode and playing music
• A sensor automatically adjusts to ambient light for ideal screen viewing and an orientation sensor allows customers to use the handset in a portrait or landscape position

Tags: 9500, BlackBerry Storm, RIM, Verizon, Vodafone

The niche blog Storm Reviews published clear pictures of the interface for the soon-to-be-released BlackBerry Storm, RIM’s first device with no physical keyboard.  In general, the interface looks very clean, crisp, and easy to decipher.  The virtual keyboard, which reportedly uses haptic feedback to provide a discernable click when pressing an on-screen key, simulating a physical keyboard user experience, is very clearly laid out in both portrait and landscape formats.  The interface also includes a number of interesting design elements, such as a virtual clock in several formats, and which take advantage of the screen’s high resolution.

Still no word from RIM, Verizon or Vodafone about when the device will be officially released, although many tech blogs continue to speculate that the official availability date is expected to be in mid-November, pending the end of final testing.

Tags: BlackBerry 9530, BlackBerry Storm, Storm screen shots

T-Mobile announced their plans to market the first smartphone based on Google’s open source mobile operating system, Android.  The new phone, built by HTC and called the G1, will be generally available by October 22nd in the US (and in the U.K. in November, and the rest of Europe in early 2009), and will cost US$179 with a two-year voice and data service contract.  It includes a number of powerful features, including:

• a touchscreen interface
• a slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• a trackball for application navigation
• a 3-megapixel camera
• GPS
• Wi-Fi connectivity
• 3G (with dual-band UMTS)
• quad-band GSM support
• multimedia messaging
• e-mail support (but not Microsoft Exchange integration yet)
• instant messaging
• a rich HTML web browser
• the ability to run multiple applications simultaneously
• a music player (with automated access to the Amazon MP3 store)
• integrated Bluetooth wireless headset support

Indeed, T-Mobile’s G1 possesses a lot of advanced smartphone functionality, but by far its most interesting feature is the operating system which manages all of these features, the new Android OS.

If Google’s aspirations come true, Android will become a very popular platform for mobile devices - they expect 400,000 Android-based phones to be sold before the end of 2008 alone.  At that rate, Android may very well become one of the most pervasive operating systems for smartphones in 2009, rivaling Symbian and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and also increasing competitive pressure on Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry lines.

What does Android mean to salespeople?

Sales professionals should take note of the official market introduction of Android for several reasons:

• Even if you never buy an Android-based device, the new OS should keep the cost of smartphones low.  That means better buys on any smartphone in 2009, no matter what make or model you select.
• Five mobile platforms will vie for your attention over the next year: Apple’s iPhone, Windows Mobile, Google’s Android, Symbian from the Symbian Foundation, and RIM’s BlackBerry OS.  Of these, only Android and Symbian are open source platforms, which means that developers can create applications at significantly lower cost.  That means more choices for you in how you configure and expand the functionality of your smartphone device.
• Android’s open source aspect gives it a significant competitive advantage, at least in the short-term.  Apple is now getting flak from users about their entirely proprietary, walled-garden, iTunes-based AppStore, as they block applications that they very broadly deem competitive with any of their offerings.  Microsoft recently announced that they are delaying the launch of the next version of their proprietary Windows Mobile OS until the “second half of 2009″.  Symbian is still re-organizing as an open source foundation, and will need more time to develop and launch a new version.  This means that we should see a huge influx of new applications available for Android devices in the next few months and well beyond, giving the platform more extensibility and adaptability than any other platform by the middle of 2009.
• Android’s user experience rivals the Apple iPhone’s multi-touch interface - although for pure elegance and simplicity, the nod would have to go to Apple here.  Still, Android is remarkably simple to operate and customize on the G1, making it one of the friendliest devices on the market.  As Sprint and other carriers release their Android phones over the next few months, this ease of use should make Android very attractive to new users in the smartphone market.
• In 2009, Android will be available on virtually every carrier, in a wide variety of configurations, and all at relatively low price points.  Apple is tied exclusively to AT&T in the U.S. market, at least for the next year or so, which will become a significant competitive limitation.  The newest releases of  BlackBerry devices - such as the Bold, Storm and Thunder - should help RIM maintain its growing market share in smartphones, but by the middle of 2009, the number of new Android phones should explode well beyond the limited number of models that RIM will provide.  The next releases of Symbian and Windows Mobile won’t make an impact until the end of 2009, at earliest - and by then, Android’s momentum may be too much to stop.

In short, Android’s impending ubiquity, extensibility, expandability, ease of use and low cost should make it a very formidable competitor in the smartphone market in the next year.

More importantly, these features may make Android the ideal mobile computing platform for sales professionals, as it is designed from the core outward with “cloud computing” in mind.  In addition to making voice calls, Android smartphones should excel in connecting to the Internet for web browsing, data searches (remember: it’s from Google), hosted applications (such as CRM, for example), navigation (using services such as Google Maps), text messaging and e-mail.  As additional functionality becomes available in the Android Marketplace of third-party applications, sales pros will be able to configure their devices to suit their individual requirements at very low cost.

So, should salespeople buy an Android phone now?

If you are in the U.S., and use T-Mobile, you should definitely consider the G1 for your next smartphone.  It does almost everything that a sales professional needs in a mobile phone.  It only lacks Microsoft Exchange integration - but Google expects this to be addressed in the next few weeks as application developers complete work on a solution.  One other potential problem is the limited availability of 3G networks from T-Mobile, although they expect to expand 3G coverage aggressively over the next year - still, check the coverage map for your area before jumping in.

If you are using a carrier other than T-Mobile, or using another smartphone platform (such as Symbian or Windows Mobile) and are locked into a service contract, it’s almost certainly not worth switching just to get the G1.  Instead, just wait for your carrier to introduce their own Android-based phone, and upgrade when your contract expires.  Sprint intends to release an Android device by the end of 2008, and virtually all other carriers will release their own devices in the first half of 2009.

If you are using a BlackBerry or iPhone, and are perfectly happy, don’t panic.  Your own platforms are as useful as when you first bought them, and they will continue to be so, even as Android’s presence in the marketplace expands.  But monitor the progress of Android over the next year or so - you may very well be tempted to switch by 2010.

Tags: Android, T-Mobile G1

T-Mobile USA formally announced the first phone using Google’s open-source mobile operating system, Android, on September 23rd. The phone, manufactured by HTC, will be called the G1 in the U.S. market. It will be priced at US$179, with a 2-year T-Mobile contract.

The G1 is slightly heavier than its primary competitor, the Apple iPhone 3G, and it features a large touch screen, a slide-out full keyboard and an integrated trackball for application navigation. Its biggest differentiating feature, however, is that this is the first smartphone to be powered by Android, which promises to be intuitive to use, easily customized to user preferences, and expandable with third-party applications.

According to the tech blog, Boy Genius Report, T-Mobile’s G1 will be shipped to customers on October 17th. The G1 is the first of many new Android-based phones expected in the next year.  BGR also reports that Sprint will have an Android-based phone in early 2009.  Google hopes to sell 400,000 Android based phones before the end of 2008.

Tags: Android, Dream, G1, HTC, T-Mobile

According to a source found by the BoyGeniusReport, the Verizon Wireless version of the cutting-edge BlackBerry Storm, RIM’s first device without a physical keyboard, won’t be generally available until “mid-November” in the U.S.  Previously, the reported launch target date was mid-October, but testing and bug fixes are taking longer than expected, according to the source.

Meanwhile, the more conventionally designed BlackBerry Bold will be officially launched on October 2nd, according to BGR, at AT&T stores in the U.S.  AT&T retail outlets “will be allowed to start ordering the BlackBerry Bold on September 24th”, with an anticipated customer availability date of October 2nd.  The Bold includes significant performance improvements over previous BlackBerry models, including a more powerful 624MHz processor, high-speed 3G networking, higher resolution screen, and advanced application support.

Tags: AT&T, BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Storm, release date, Verizon

The tech blog Engadget showed the packaging for the new touchscreen-operated BlackBerry 9530 - RIM’s first device with no physical keyboard.  Now called the Storm in the U.S. market, the phone will be released on Verizon Wireless later this year.  The 9530 will operate globally with a removable SIM card.  It will also include an 8GB SanDisk microSD card, stereo headset, travel charger and USB cable.

It appears that the device may be marketed as the Thunder in Canada through Rogers and in Europe through Vodafone.  Pricing or final release date are not yet finalized, although prior rumors has the phone pegged for a mid-October launch in the U.S.

Tags: 9530, Blackberry, RIM, Rogers, Storm, Thunder, Verizon, Vodafone

The tech blog Engadget reports that T-Mobile will be the first carrier to offer a mobile phone using the open Android operating system. The phone will be built by HTC and go on sale in the U.S. “before Christmas, perhaps as early as October.” The New York Times also reported that the device will include a slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard.

Also, Google released the latest version of the Android software development toolkit.  Early reviews are very positive on the user interface, but decidedly mixed on native functionality.  According to the tech blog Gizmodo:

It’s hard to pass judgement on Android in the condition it’s in. What’s there is impressive, but there are so many glaring omissions, at least from a consumer standpoint. There is a fantastic system for managing ongoing calls and system messages (via the pull-down taskbar) but no apps to take advantage of it. Email and IM would suit such a configuration beautifully, but neither is included in this release…

…Objections aside, the progress is promising. In terms of usability, Android is much easier to navigate and customize than virtually all other mobile solutions. With a few more apps, Android will be a clear choice over Windows Mobile, skinned or not.

Here is a walk-through of the Android interface, using the toolkit emulator, conducted by the mobile phone blog, MobileCrunch:

What does this mean for salespeople?

The early Android phones will almost certainly be incomplete, compared to the more robust smartphone alternatives available today from Apple, RIM and Nokia.  Mobile sales professionals should continue to monitor how Android develops during the early part of 2009.  If more developers embrace Android’s open platform, and more applications begin to become available, it could become a very flexible alternative to the Apple iPhone or RIM BlackBerry.  In any event, Android’s potential competitive threat should help to keep the costs of smartphones down - and we could see an all-out price war by mid-2009 - definitely good news for salespeople.

UPDATE: Google trims features from Android OS release

Tags: Android, HTC, T-Mobile

In separate surveys conducted by PC Magazine (previewed in our interview with PC Mag’s Sascha Segan) and by J.D. Power, customer satisfaction for mobile phone services is highest for Verizon Wireless, topping all others in overall rankings.

There’s practically no difference between the top-ranked companies, however, with Verizon coming in with a score of 103, Alltel with 102, and T-Mobile at 100 in J.D. Power’s survey.

Both PC Magazine and J.D. Power list Sprint Nextel well below the industry average.  J.D. Power found that Sprint’s score was a lowly 72, while PC Magazine listed Sprint dead last among all wireless service providers.

More than 11,000 participants were included in the J.D. Power survey.  PC Magazine based their results on surveys of more than 19,000 readers.

J.D. Power also found that customers spent an average of 4.4 minutes on hold with customer service, a jump of 34% from the previous survey, while 49% of all wireless customers said they called in for help at least once, about the same rate reported last year. J.D. Power attributes this to the “increasingly complex” wireless phones and services available today.

Tags: customer satisfaction, J.D. Power, PC Magazine, Sprint Nextel, Verizon

RIM’s new BlackBerry mobile communications device, code named Thunder, is now slated for an October 13th release on Verizon in the U.S., and it will be called the BlackBerry 9530, according to the BoyGenius blog.

The Thunder device is unusual in that it will be the first BlackBerry with no physical keyboard.  Users will enter data with an on-screen virtual keyboard with haptic feedback.

Neither RIM or Verizon have confirmed this rumor, or provided any other information.

Tags: BlackBerry 9530, haptic feedback, Thunder, Verizon