The Storm isn't the first competitor to the iPhone, which is credited with piquing consumers' interests in smartphones. T-Mobile USA Inc.'s G1, Samsung's Instinct and LG's Dare all have touch screen capabilities like the iPhone.
But RIM says it goes a step further, with what it calls the "world's first 'clickable' touch screen" -- Storm's screen compresses when tapped and offers tactile feedback to mimic the feeling of a real keyboard.
And Storm captures video, which the iPhone doesn't. It does include one popular iPhone feature: an accelerometer, which means the screen shifts depending on which way you hold it.
The Storm is "not an iPhone killer, but it is intended as a retention tool to keep people that have a BlackBerry but might be eyeing the iPhone," said Charles Golvin, principal analyst at Forrester Research.
RIM is expected to gain some footing in the smartphone market because it offers phones with touch screens, flip screens and keyboards that appeal to a wide range of consumers. A Forrester survey found that 18% of online 12- to 18-year-olds who frequently used the Internet on their phones wanted a BlackBerry -- only 15% said they wanted an iPhone.
Still, few smartphones please consumers and critics like the iPhone, which is lauded for its speedy Web browser and its range of user-friendly applications. RIM will have an especially tough time competing in the fourth quarter because Apple gets so much holiday foot traffic in its stores, said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis with the NPD Group.
"It's going to tough to compete with Apple," he said. "Then again, there could be pent-up demand."
But analysts say that this quarter is only the beginning of the game between Apple, RIM and the other competitors.
Said Roger Entner, senior vice president of the communications sector at Nielsen IAG: "They're looking at each other's devices and trying to figure out how they can keep their edge, and also how they can copy what the other one does better."
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alana.semuels@latimes.com
