Don’t expect a perfect storm with new touch-screen blackberry

The Blackberry Storm was formally announced this morning to the press and on their fan page on facebook.

Many had been predicting that a touch screen interface added to an already impressive blackberry architecture would be the perfect storm of form and function to take on the iphone. 

Although initial images and specs look impressive, I have some concerns over its ability to truly compete in the consumer smartphone space: 

1. No Wifi – I don’t know how any manufacturer can release a consumer smartphone device and not offer wifi. It’s in the Bold – why not the Storm? It’s possible that the Canadian versions will include Wifi, but the versions being released on Verizon and Vodafone do not have it
2. It weighs more than the iphone and has a slightly smaller screen. Although it looks like the sleekest blackberry to date, it needs to compete in the cool department and wear as well as the iphone as a fashion device
3. No app store – or equivalent. The ability to personalize and customize an iphone through the dummy-proof app store is a huge contributor to the success of the iphone. Microsoft and Nokia are building their own app stores, where’s the bb store? 

Having said that, the storm addresses one of the biggest complaints from iphone users – adding tactile into a touch screen. Apparently the new touch screen will mimic hitting a real keyboard – but on a touch screen.

This will make a lot of people happy (assuming it works well), although I don’t know why they chose their “suretype” keyboard as the default interface. This is the same interface found on the Pearl where 2 letters occupy each key.  Turning the phone horizontally switches the keyboard to full QWERTY – which is a great feature and something iphone users have also been asking for. 

The storm comes with an impressive radio frequency capability – meaning it will work virtually anywhere in the world out of the box. This is especially useful for the business traveller. 

Mac owners will be able to sync to the Storm without a third party suite via the BlackBerry Media Sync program for Mac.

Similar to an iPhone, Media Sync will let users choose to sync all or only some play lists, and will give a certain amount of control over storage. Owners pick whether to load music to built-in memory or an add-in card, and have an iPod shuffle-style ability to reserve a certain minimum of free memory on their BlackBerrys for more essential info.

Should you buy a storm over a 3g iphone? 

I will definitely be picking one up when it hits retail in Canada – which should be in about 6 weeks.