It’s pretty clear that Research In Motion’s (RIM) new BlackBerry Storm smartphone was designed with another phone in mind: Apple’s iPhone. What we didn’t expect was that RIM would be so blatantly obvious about it.
For several hours tonight, Vodafone (the European distributor of the device) had a Storm promo page showing pictures of the device actually running Apple’s version of OS X that powers the iPhone. Ouch.
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Two other images show the Storm running the mobile version of the Safari web browser. The only problem? The iPhone is the only mobile device able to run Safari.
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The Apple-infused pictures have been replaced by pictures of the actual BlackBerry Storm interface — which looks fairly nice in its own right. The device is the first BlackBerry to completely do away with the physical keyboard in favor of the touchscreen-only approach. But those who hate the fact that the iPhone has no keyboard may be interested in the Storm’s touchscreen, which apparently depresses and gives back a “click” to simulate actually touching a keypad, according to GigaOM.
Don’t be surprised if the next iteration of the iPhone has a screen with some sort of tactile feedback to let users orient their fingers on screen and alert them with a small zap when they’re typing.
Will this BlackBerry Storm touchscreen feedback be enough to stop people from choosing the hottest smartphone on the market, the iPhone 3G, rather than a BlackBerry? Probably not, but the device has some other interesting elements including its own store for application downloads, dubbed — get ready — Application Center.
Arguably the best feature of the iPhone 3G isn’t really a physical feature of the device itself, but rather its App Store, which allows users to download third-party software to the device. RIM announced its own $150 million fund to spur BlackBerry app development following Kleiner Perkins’ iFund, the $100 million fund to give money to iPhone app developers.
The BlackBerry Storm will also have its own software to allow it to sync with computers — including Macs, according to AppleInsider. The iPhone’s ease in syncing with iTunes is another strong suit of the device.
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The BlackBerry Storm is expected to be released next month through both Verizon and Vodafone.
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