Verizon Wireless Bets on Storm for Holiday Season

NEW YORK (Reuters)- Verizon Wireless is betting on the new BlackBerry Storm for theall-important holiday season, hoping the highly anticipated smartphonecan compete against the iPhone offered by rival wireless providerAT&T Inc.

The No. 2 U.S. mobile service, a joint venture between VerizonCommunications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, heavily promoted fourdifferent phones last holiday season, but its focus this year isdirected firmly at Research In Motion Ltd’s first touch-screen phone.

"This is our big holiday season phone," said Verizon Wirelessspokeswoman Brenda Raney, adding the Storm was a game changer andVerizon would do more marketing for it than any other phone in thefourth quarter.

Both the Storm and Apple Inc’s iPhone cost $200 for customers whoagree to a two-year service contract and both come with a built-incamera, and music and video players.

But the Storm, which goes on sale in the United States on November21, has a different approach to touch-screen typing that RIM hopes willwin over people addicted to the keypads on other BlackBerry e-maildevices.

Instead of tapping lightly on the screen, as with iPhone, Stormusers have to press firmly until they feel a physical click moresimilar to the experience of typing on keypads.

And while iPhone users make a pinching motion with two fingers toreduce or enlarge a Web page, Storm users tap twice to zoom in or tap amagnifying glass icon to zoom out.

The Storm is the latest bet on the consumer market for RIM, which has long-dominated the corporate world with BlackBerry.

Verizon Wireless also hopes the Storm will help it win over consumers, as well as business clients eyeing touch-screens.

The idea is that, if a company has already set up its security ande-mail systems to support the BlackBerry, buying a Storm would beeasier than trying to make systems compatible with the iPhone, whichalso supports corporate e-mail.

Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said Apple’s consumer fanswould probably still go for the iPhone, but big corporations orconsumers who are looking to move to Verizon’s network would likelyfavor Storm.

"Companies that insist on using BlackBerry will be thrilled with theStorm … Quite frankly it’s sexy — having a big touch screen with aBlackBerry," he said, adding that over half of new BlackBerry buyersare consumers these days.

Aside from corporate email, which is RIM’s area of expertise,Greengart said the Storm’s Web navigation works very well compared withthe G1, made by HTC Corp and uses the Android operating system fromGoogle Inc, and LG Electronics Inc’s Incite. The G1 is carried byT-Mobile, while the Incite is sold by AT&T.

"One of the key problems with most smartphones is that half the timeyou’re trying to scroll down the page and the phone thinks you selecteda link," said Greengart, noting that only the iPhone and Storm havesolved that problem.

"Flick your finger down and half the time it scrolls correctly, halfthe time it thinks you’ve selected a link," he said, referring to Websurfing on LG’s Incite.

Industry watchers do not expect consumers to line up around theblock for the Storm like they did for the iPhone, but they say there ispent up demand for a good touch-screen phone from Verizon Wireless.

Vodafone said thousands of customers had ordered the Storm inadvance of its U.K. launch on Friday, November 14, but the company hasnot updated figures since then. The Storm is free for people who signVodafone contracts.

RIM, whose BlackBerry devices have long been popular with executiveslooking to email on the go, has also used the Storm’s touch-screen togive users new options for navigating and searching their email inbox.

For example, if you are in one email, to get to the next one you canslide your finger to the right of the screen rather than having to exitthe message first.

(Editing by Andre Grenon)