Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) released its own touch-screen wireless handset just over a few months ago and so far, it's been selling well. The BlackBerry Storm, though, seems to have been plagued by software issues, user interface problems and reeks of a unit that was rushed to market before it was finished. In many ways, this happens every day from all kinds of companies. With RIM - a company known for outstanding and solid products, this just doesn't fit.The company has indicated that about 500,000 Storms were sold in the first month after release, which was no doubt a boon to the Storm's exclusive carrier, Verizon Communications, Inc. (NYSE: VZ). Does this really impact Apple's iPhone, which continues to see large sales as well?
The Storm had nowhere near the buzz that the original iPhone did on its release, but it still had a nice $100 million marketing budget to get the word out. Still, the iPhone was likely the most anticipated item from the extremely successful Apple in over a decade - so how do you compare the Storm's release to that? You can't.
The problem is that Apple rarely puts out a piece of equipment that has initial bugs in it that immediately frustrate customers. Every product can be improved, but when RIM apparently rushed the Storm to market to beat a holiday sales deadline, it made the cardinal mistake -- putting initial sales over the customer experience. Any time you do that, you're asking to get beat up -- and many who expected a solid, reliable Storm made by RIM and are getting nothing but a buggy, pain-filled experience. Managing expectations was not performed here I am afraid.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-27-2009 @ 12:10PM
DK said...
Having owned a Storm for 29 days (then returning it) I can attest that it is buggy but there is not doubt in my mind that VZ and RIM will get it together. However, that doesn’t solve the bigger issue, which is making the device truly consumer centric.
The typical higher end consumer will want to have access to multiple email accounts, social networking sites and the latest programs that offer a variety of services out of the box or easily updated OTA. I know the Storm offers most of these things but it is far from intuitive.
It’s a different audience and RIM seems to be slowly adapting. Simply adding a touch interface to the existing platform goes only so far.