Verizon shows signs of clearing Storm backlog

Verizon appears to be quickly recuperating from the initial shortage of BlackBerry Storm phones from its high-profile launch, according to early prospective buyers. While the company had initially said that follow-up online orders might not ship until December 15th, or about three weeks after the phone's initial ship date, the company has bumped the ship date on its order page a week earlier to December 8th, suggesting an improved supply situation.

No explanation has been given for the change, though it's now believed that the rumored software glitch is actually an incorrect labeling of software versions on the box that prompted RIM and Verizon to delay some shipments while the packaging was updated. The delay nonetheless forced many Verizon stores to run low on stock and has made it difficult to gauge the actual success of the touchscreen BlackBerry.

The reduced delay should help Verizon but is likely to still hurt RIM's financial results, as many of the would-be launch Storm owners won't count as BlackBerry subscribers until after the November 29th cutoff date for RIM's current sales quarter.

Filed under: industry, mobile phones
Other story tags: BlackBerry, Verizon, Research in Motion, Storm