With a sharp rise in popularity and sales of Apple's iPhone 3G and T-Mobile's T-1, it was only a matter of time before their elite competitor BlackBerry unveiled its next generation phone. On Saturday, photographs of the next BlackBerry device, the Storm, were leaked onto a website called the Boy Genius Report. The handheld is being designed by Research in Motion (RIM), who has declined comment regarding the leak, but is expected to make a formal announcement Wednesday. Its sleek appearance and touchscreen design certainly bear a close resemblance to the iPhone 3G, not to mention its similar capabilities which include GPS Navigation, Facebook, an application center, games, and a media player. The devices are almost identical in size and screen resolution. However, the Storm has some capabilities not found on iPhone such as horizontal viewing for emails and web pages and a 3.2 megapixel camera, a much higher quality feature than than Apple's 2.0 megapixel unit.
As touchscreen smartphones sales continue to skyrocket, I expect the Storm to swiftly crash the market whenever it is released. Amidst iPhone 3G bugs possibly surfacing in the next few months, BlackBerry will be wise to release this highly anticipated product that seems poised to challenge for the top spot among phones of its kind. The competitors better keep an eye out for the Storm.
Alex Karasik
This
article by Anita Hamilton was found in the Time magazine's online Business & Tech section, dated Oct. 7, 2008.
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