At long last, we’ve reached the release date for the BlackBerry Storm through Verizon. No more delays, no more marketing gimmicks to get us hooked. It’s here, and it’s ready. Well, we think it’s ready. Of course, there have been a number of reported issues with the supply of Storms that might have some people waiting on line only to come away empty handed. You’d think RIM and Verizon would be more prepared for something like this.
We mentioned this in News from the Wire yesterday, and it seems issues have gotten a little worse. Early morning reports had some stores only getting one functioning model in stock. Thankfully, later shipments increased stock, but not by much. Some stores could be left with as few as four sellable Storms. Others might have 10 or 20. In any case, that doesn’t sound like enough stock to cover the demand.
There are also rumblings that certain Verizon outlets will not have the Storm at all. That would be a disaster. If you frequent an independent retailer and not a corporate store, my advice is to call ahead to see if they have any in stock. You wouldn’t want to make a trip for nothing, after all.
This reeks of the situation Verizon had with the LG Voyager last year. Verizon rushed to get the device out by Black Friday, but in the process made a few blunders. Stock wasn’t nearly to needed levels, and there were bugs in the operating system. We just talked about the first issue in relation to the Storm. As reported by BGR, there might have been a security flaw in the OS, which forced RIM to reflash all of the units. This could have caused the shipping problems.
If you don’t get a Storm tomorrow, fret not. Word is that they’ll be getting more in stock on Saturday. Or at least that’s the hope. You can also get it at Best Buy tomorrow, instead of having to wait for the 23rd. That’s a consolation, but again they might not have adequate stock to cover demand.
If you don’t get a Storm today, leave a comment. We can all vent here. But you can try for your Storm here.
