Hoping RIM Doesn’t Learn a Half-Baked Lesson from the Storm

If you want a Storm, you are out of luck. The latest check with the local retailer reveals that they won't have any new models until sometime after Christmas. You can shave a few days off your wait time if you order over the 'net, Verizon's website promises shipment by the 15 of December. Great news if you're planning to give the Storm as a Christmas gift but of little value if you want one tomorrow. iPhone owners are probably wondering what the fuss is all about, the reviews of the Storm haven't been favorable and the Storm is clearly derivative of the iPhone, why not just get an iPhone?

There is nothing wrong with being confused about the success of the Storm, Verizon and RIM are feeling muddle headed as well. You can assure yourself that Verizon and RIM are experiencing a moment of incomplete nerve synapse connections by looking at the uneven availability of the device and the fact that they have yet to capitalize on the demand. The bigger question is why the device is so popular. That answer is easy: because the Storm is on the Verizon network. AT&T may claim to have more bars in more places but if Knoxville is blanketed with AT&T coverage (as a AT&T rep once assured me) then it is under two quilts and an extra thick comforter when compared to Verizon's network.

So, people are standing in line because they want the coverage of Verizon? Not quite. After speaking to a dozen Storm owners/wanna be owners one thing became apparent. It wasn't the coverage that was keeping them with Verizon, it was the fear of AT&T's coverage. Investigating the perception of Verizon's coverage revealed that most just thought it was adequate but nothing special. Sprint's coverage was seen in this area as nearly as good. AT&T's coverage was seen as tolerable (accurate if you are stepping up from string and tin cans). If it wasn't the coverage that kept people with Verizon what was it? The biggest reason was the hassle factor. People didn't want to deal with switching carriers. As one person, only halfway facetiously, said to me “It took me three years to figure out my contract with Verizon, I don't have time to go through that again.”

There is nothing unexpected with this behavior. People already don't like dealing with the cell phone company and switching from Verizon to AT&T is two extra encounters with cell phone providers. It is a bit like deciding not to have another kid after one visit to Chuck E. Cheese's. You can stand the occasional trip but two kids mean twice a year... Much better to stick with Verizon (or one kid) to minimize the unpleasantness even if the encounter only happens rarely.

None of these observations address the big question: what are people really after when they get a Storm? The answer was oddly consistent. All of them save one (his fondest desire was for a new device) wanted an iPhone and didn't want to change carriers. The Storm bears a resemblance to an iPhone and RIM has a level of respect among consumers so they were operating on the assumption that the Storm would be a decent clone of the iPhone.

Are people set up for disappointment? The reviews will tell you that the Storm is no iPhone. While there are similarities, the differences are obvious once you use the Storm for more than a few minutes. But reviews are written by people who try everything, more telling is the reactions of actual consumers. How did new Storm owners feel about the Storm? I talked to five people who were upgrading from a standard phone they used in a largely standard manner: calling and instant messaging. These folks loved the Storm. There were a few small complaints but the reaction was similar to the reaction of people upgrading to an iPhone from a RAZR. Going from a standard flip phone to a smartphone means that users brains are still in the malleable stage when it comes to smartphones so something pretty good seems amazing. The menus and navigation on the Storm seem foreign to them but they expected that because they are stepping up to a computer in your pocket instead of a go anywhere cordless phone.

Two people I talked to had switched from another Blackberry device. These users were much less enthusiastic about the Storm. One guy loved the large screen and said it was much easier to browse the internet but bemoaned the inability to use SureType in landscape mode and then gave a list of other non Blackberryish things found on the Storm. The litany was lost on me, I had to look up SureType just to see what that meant, the rest was all crackberryese only understood by other people with calloused thumbs. The other Blackberry user I talked to liked the Storm up to a point but he didn't really want one. What he really wanted was a new Blackberry, the classic “I've had this for a two years so I want something new” deal. The Storm, he explained, was the only Blackberry Verizon offered that interested him. The conversation took a quick turn to the Bold and as he left me he was headed to AT&T to check one out.

The rest of the people I talked with were filled with unsated lust for the Storm but couldn't give a solid review of the thing because they hadn't been able to get their paws on one yet (which made the lust ever more intense). One supposes they are hoping for a seasonal miracle or something.

There is trouble in all of this for RIM. The company will undoubtedly be impressed by the unanticipated demand and will pat themselves on the back for a job well done. The temptation that RIM must avoid is to fall in the trap that they've created something better than the iPhone but hubris being what it is that will likely be the conclusion of RIM. The company will give the credit to the clickscreen or something without the careful introspection that would show that what they were really selling was a Verizon capable iPhone.

That could be a problem for RIM. If the company falls into the hype trap and thinks that Storm is selling because of something RIM did then they'll want a second trip to the salad bar of success. They'll try to become even more iPhoneish, they'll try even harder to out Apple Apple. The company will pull resources away from more traditional Blackberries and focus on creating the next iPhone before it even shows up. If that happens it will be a shame. Even non-Blackberry initiates such as I can tell that the traditional Blackberry is a pretty special device and that is where Blackberry should be spending their time: making the next great Blackberry, not the next iPhone knock off. I hope they do because the more time I spend typing on my iPhone the better the Blackberry Bold looks.