14 DAY TRIAL // Research in Motion was reported yesterday to plan on releasing the successor of its BlackBerry Storm touchscreen mobile phone at a certain point in September this year. However, it seems that the handset will come to the market in Europe later in 2009 or at the beginning of 2010, at least in the Netherlands, according to Alain Segon de Banchet, the BlackBerry spokesperson in the Netherlands, who officially announced the aforementioned release time frame for the device, as reported by tweakers.net.
As many of you might already know, the device is expected to come with a wide range of improvements over the previous Storm handset, among which we already counted Wi-Fi connectivity and enhancements to the touchscreen display. While the existence of the mobile phone has been confirmed, it is still uncertain whether the actual name will remain Storm 2 or we'll see it branded otherwise.
In seems that the second Storm device will lose the carrier exclusivity in the Netherlands, unlike the predecessor, which came on Vodafone, and it will be available on KNP's airwaves (a Dutch wireless carrier). Interestingly enough, the news site also states that, during the ongoing year, the Canadian mobile phone maker will come to the market with only one device, namely the aforementioned successor of Storm. On the other hand, it seems that Alain Segond von Banchet stated that the company intended to keep quiet during 2009, but that it was already making plans for the following year.
For comparison, in 2008, RIM managed to sell a number of around 50,000 to 60,000 BlackBerry devices in the Netherlands, while Apple sold 100,000 iPhones through T-Mobile, and HTC managed to ship more than 100,000 units of its flagship model Touch Diamond.
It remains to be seen when the Canadian mobile phone maker will indeed release its new Storm device, and what markets it will become available in. For what it's worth, the handset is expected to be able to offer more functionality to its users, while also providing them with an enhanced experience due to the improvements it should come with.