This blog was never supposed to be a place for me to whinge or complain about the Blackberry Storm but needs must at the moment. Today marked the launch of the Blackberry App World, their version of Apples App Store but before I explain the events of today let me give you a little background information. The Storm was heralded as the next big thing with endless potential etc etc etc but since its December 08 launch there have been many problems with the phone and the distinct lack of an application store has held the phone back in a big way causing RIM and Vodafone to loose ground on one of their main rivals. I’d signed up to the Blackberry site to make sure I was notified as soon as their App World was available. I had given up reading articles about why there was yet another delay to its launch.

Imagine my surprise, turning on my phone this morning, out of the blue I receive an email saying the App World was now open and available for download. Bleary eyed, still half asleep, I followed the links and started the download and installation whilst getting ready for work. Buzzing with excitement I eagerly awaited a new chapter in this phones life and stared at the screen as I clicked on the icon for the app. What did I see, an error message thats what,

“Upgrade your service to a plan that includes browsing and discover a world of possibilities at Blackberry App World. Contact your service provider for more details.”

AARRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!! If the phone had been a little bit cheaper than it was I’d have launched it out of the window and gone straight down to an O2 shop and bought an Iphone.

After trying various things to solve the problems without any looked I headed for Google to find out what was going on. It turns out that everyone in the UK using a Storm was having the same problem. As the App World (AW) is only available in the US, Canada and the UK you’d have thought they would have made sure that the app worked.

Speaking to Vodafone they claimed it wasnt a problem with the plan that people are on as users were able to browse just not run the app. Vodafone werent even aware that the application was coming out today. That shocked me. How that can be the case? Vodafone have exclusive rights to the Storm and therefore you’d have thought they would have been working with RIM to make sure they were ready for the launch.

Vodafone’s online forums were inundated with complaints about the issue and after earlier stating that Vodafone dont support the app they very quickly clarified their position in a post as shown below.

“The reason I said we don’t support it is the same as with any other third party application. Vodafone can only ever offer support for everything that’s included on a handset when it’s launched, or Vodafone approved services released after launch. It’d be simply impossible for us to offer support on all third party products, in fact it’d be similar to contacting Microsoft if you were having problems setting up a piece of software not made by them on your PC.

That said, I’m certain we’ll be able to offer unofficial support for App World, much like we do with any other services we can. I’m the first to hold my hand up and say I didn’t know this was coming out today, but I’ve since been looking into this and have escalated the issue to the relevant party. One thing I can say for sure is that this isn’t a Vodafone account issue as the error message suggests, so I’d recommend you save time by not calling us as suggested, as there’s nothing we can do right now to fix this. RIM are investigating this now, and so I’d recommend you all click Options in the top right corner, then track this topic, to receive an update once we’ve more news.” (http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/index.php?s=67d3c0413118b25af2d42bcf6333de1c&showtopic=21986&st=20)

What an oversight. Vodafone are reliant on the Storm as their supposed flagship handset. Rim were reliant on the App World to start to compete or at least try to compete with Iphones App Store so for both parties to make a shocking mistake as this is beyond belief.

Its no wonder we have been waiting 4 months for a firmware upgrade RIM and Vodafone obviously dont talk to each other.

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• BlackBerry App World has landed (thaibrother.com)

 Like so many people out there, I was duped by the hype surrounding the launch of the Blackberry Storm, a smart phone designed by RIM in conjunction with Vodafone tagged as their very own Iphone killer. Vodafone plugged the phone as the product that would turn its fortunes around, the phone that would bite back at O2, the only O2 carrier in the UK and the phone to beat all other phones.

What bugs me about the Storm, more than its slowness to respond and inaccurate touch screen is the fact the phone has been completely forgotten by both its manufacturer RIM and its UK carrier Vodafone. A day doesn’t pass without an Iphone advert on TV plugging the latest apps, whilst we still wait for the frequently delayed Blackberry App World to be launched. At present the Storm isn’t in the same game let alone the same ball park as the Iphone and G1 when it comes to the number and quality of applications available to owners.

I cant remember the last time I saw a Storm advert on TV. The ones that were aired weren’t really up to much and whilst it tried to position the phone as being sophisticated with a grown up feel the Android and Iphone are positioned as being far cooler devices.

Ignoring the lack of marketing and the big gap that will be plugged by an official app store, the phone itself has been forgotten. The phone has many bugs and issues that if fixed would seriously ease the stress levels of owners. Turning the phone and then waiting a few seconds for the accelerometer to kick in to rotate the screen isn’t ideal especially when Iphone adverts show off how well theirs works. The last official firmware update came early December which fixed a few issues but left many unresolved. Three and a half months on and Im still waiting for a firmware update. I don’t believe its taking this long to produce the next upgrade. There is no news on when the next release is coming nor what it will include.

I feel let down. I purchased the phone thinking that this could be the phone that took the mantle as being the best out there. Apple are benefitting from being a household brand with one phone to sell while not many people know of RIM and Vodafone has many phones to spread its marketing budget across. In theory the Storm has all the promise of being able to compete with other phone out there but until RIM and Vodafone throw some weight behind the device its always going to remain a poor relation.