I read two stories yesterday about “long lines” at Verizon stores for the Launch of the Blackberry Storm. The devices supposedly sold out within a few moments of the stores opening and police needed to come to one Manhattan location because people became so agitated when supply ran short. As Gizmodo points out, there were lines but nothing like Apple. 

Before you call me a fool for saying that “RIM doesn’t get it with the Blackberry Storm” let me point out something.

From all that I’ve been able to determine Verizon stores were allocated roughly 200 Storms for the product launch. Compare that to Apple’s roughly 2300 per store and one can easily see that the Storm isn’t even in the same league – yet. It has the potential, but RIM needs to change their approach.

Until RIM expands their focus from a business user base to a business / consumer user base and opens up the platform for independent developers they will be hard pressed to overtake the iPhone.

Apple has a hit with the iPhone (both the Edge and 3G version) and since the touch screen, music playing, game capable device came onto the market competitors are trying to match Apple’s efforts.

Enter RIM’s Blackberry Storm.

Everyone knows Blackberry to be the De facto accessory for business and IT workers worldwide, even after the release of the iPhone.  People are constantly check emails in meeting, working from remote locations, and, yes, playing brick breaker.  While the iPhone is the largest selling smart phone on the market, Blackberry trying to fight back with the Storm.

The new Blackberry device has a few advantages the iPhone does not have, including:

• Removable battery
• Expandable memory
• Tactile feedback
• Copy and paste
• Verizon 3G (AT&T’s network is a liability for the iPhone)

Who knows, the Blackberry Storm may be a superior device but it is unlikely to take over the iPhone in terms of popularity.  Why?  Easy – the cult of Apple.

Apple is popular for making sexy devices, be it iPhones, iPods or computers, and they know how to market their products to the consumer.  As a result, a growing (and vocal) group of dedicated users buy and promote Apple’s products.  It’s almost like a self-fulfilling circle of home grown marketing.

While sales of the Storm may be significant in the business world, RIM is not known as a retail consumer company and they do not have a fanatic retail consumer user base to support them.  Add on other limitations, such as a lack of integration with an established music retailer and no independent application developers for their platform, the Blackberry Storm will have a number of disadvantages right at the start.

I’m sure RIM understand the challenges they face, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Storm open up from an app dev standpoint, but I just do not see the company becoming a retail consumer company with this strategy.

Not tryin to be an alarmist, but the new Hurricane Ike strom tracks suggest this storm will miss Florida and head into the gulf.   (second view) NOAA is reporting:

IKE IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-SOUTHWEST NEAR 16 MPH..IKE IS EXPECTED TO PASS NEAR OR OVER THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS AND THE SOUTHEASTERN BAHAMAS LATER TODAY OR
EARLY SUNDAY. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 115 MPH…185 KM/HR…WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. IKE IS A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN STRENGTH ARE POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS…BUT IKE IS EXPECTED TO BE A MAJOR HURRICANE DURING THIS PERIOD.

As I had previously feard, this storm will – most likley – drive up Oil and Natural gas prices when companies shut down platforms due to danger.  What that means for us: depending on the size of the storm,  and the government take over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, gas prices could rise sharply in the next few weeks.

Why the storm and Freddie and Fannie?  Fear helps drive oil price.

If the storm slows after it passes the Turks Islands, if the life of the storm isn’t as strong, industry could be out of the woods.  What is yet to bee seen, however, is where it will make landfall…

More to come.