BlackBerry Storm due late October for UK?

The BlackBerry Storm should arrive in the UK to challenge the iPhone roughly in sync with its American counterpart, according to sources speaking to Pocket-lint. Validating some of the oldest leaks about the Storm (then called the Thunder), the tip says Verizon's stakeholder Vodafone will be the sole carrier to offer the Storm in the UK. RIM's first touchscreen BlackBerry will also reportedly have a near-simultaneous introduction with the US model and receive an announcement at the start of October with an actual launch before the end of the month.

Neither RIM nor Vodafone has commented on the claim.

Such a launch would set up a direct conflict between Apple and RIM in two of the companies' key markets. Neither of the phone developers has had to contend with a full-touchscreen smartphone from a competitor in the UK or the US. To date, LG has been an obvious but indirect competitor with devices such as the Dare with Verizon and the Viewty in the UK.

The Storm should also bring relatively new features to the touchscreen field, including a unique screen that "clicks" with presses as well as the use of 3G both on CDMA networks (via EVDO) and GSM (via HSDPA). A 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS and a microSD slot are also known features.

Filed under: iPhone, industry, mobile phones
Other story tags: BlackBerry, Verizon, LG, Research in Motion, Vodafone