RIM takes world by Storm?

So RIM  has finally followed all the other mobile phone manufacturers and released a touch-screen based device - the 'Storm'.  No surprise there.  But like so many other attempts to compete with the iPhone, on this aspect they still don't get it.  Touch-screen does not equal Apple's Multi-touch, although granted it is not obvious to too many users what the difference is, unless they have tried the latter.  The 'sureType' mode for the onscreen keyboard also offers some tactile feedback when you touch type but I'm not sure that it really improves the user experience.  

The Blackberry Storm also has more pixels on its screen and on its camera.   No surprise there either.  What is a surprise however is the lack of Wi-Fi on any new device nowadays.  Compared to the iPhone, it is heavier, bulkier and lacking in the sexy design department, which will be important if RIM are targeting the consumer market rather than their staple diet of corporates.  Given the amount of prime time advertising they have suddenly begun doing recently at least on UK TV, this seems to be true.  I think with the advent of consumerisation of IT, it is easier for companies to move consumer devices into business than the other way around.  

Finally as I have said a few times in this blog, the competitors to Apple need not just focus on the device and the user experience with that, but also the ability to add applications to the device ... the eco-system which goes with it, and more importantly the user experience which goes with that eco-system!