BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Inc. (RIM) has officially unveiled the new BlackBerry Storm 2, the successor of RIM’s very first touch-screen based device.

It is expected RIM will be announcing availability in the coming days. The phone should head to Verizon first in the U.S. and later in the Europe from Vodafone.

The Storm 2 will feature basic enhancements compared to the first-generation Storm. RIM has enhanced the SureType text-entry to only electronic-based, and there will now be no moving parts. The memory has also been doubled to 256MB of flash memory, and there is now 2GB of on board storage. The device features GPS, a 3.2MP camera, and now includes 802.11 b/g WiFi.

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It is being confirmed today that RIM has confirmed the company is working on releasing the next generation BlackBerry Storm. RIM channel sales manager Alain Segond von Banchet said at the TeleVisie Expo the company hopes to have the device out sometime between Q4 2009 and Q1 2010. We can confirm the Storm 2 will have WiFi this time, it is also believed the Storm 2 will have a new input method yet to be disclosed.

Reports indicate that RIM will be launching the BlackBerry Storm in Hong Kong by the end of Q2 of this year. The phone will be available in various carriers including China Mobile, and 3 Hong Kong, among others. No pricing is available. RIM might have a tuff time selling the Storm in China, as the BlackBerry in Asia is not viewed as a very ideal or attractive phone because it simply lacks the advanced features Asian consumers have become accustomed to with a variety of other more advanced handsets.

If you like Android, but you have a BlackBerry Storm, then you will probably want to check out this nice and free theme at CrackBerry.

If you have a BlackBerry Storm, you might like this new AppleBerry theme that is completely free. Check out more screens and find the download links (OTA also included) here. The theme does not support other Blackberry phones.

Verizon has just released Q4 results. The Blackberry Storm contributed to higher profits, with an impressive 1 million Blackberry Storm units sold. Analysts were expecting about 500,000 units sold. Verizon also reported 1.4 million new subscribers added during Q4. Verizon CEO and Chairman Ivan Seidenberg said “Verizon has shown that it is able to compete effectively in this economic environment,” Verizon posted $24.65 billion in total revenue and $1.24 billion in net profit in 2008. The Blackberry definitely Read the full story

Telus is the first Canadian carrier to launch the BlackBerry Storm. The company the device is now available in limited numbers across its retail stores. The BlackBerry Storm has a 3.2 MP camera, supports both CDMA and GSM, has 1GB of internal memory, among other features. It is unclear which OS version it is running. Recently, other carriers in the US have provided updates to fix lag and other OS related issues. It is aggressively priced at $250 on a 3 year contract, or $600 without a contract. Bell Canada is expected to launch the Storm early 2009, probably in January.

The Canadian CDMA carrier, Telus, is getting set to launch the BlackBerry Storm, which will come in time for the holidays. Until now, YouTube and all streaming of any sort was blocked on all BlackBerry devices on the Telus network, until now. As the company prepares to launch the Storm, it has now un-blocked YouTube and streaming for all BBs. Telus was the first carrier in Canada to offer ‘unlimited’ internet on mobile phones in Dec 07. I put ‘unlimited’ in quotes because there have been reports of users having their service terminated because of excessive usage which apparently was only from streaming media. Notably, in the Telus fine print, it does prohibit you from streaming media, even though they market their plan as truly unlimited. You may remember Verizon in the US had to pay damages and change how they marketed their services because of the same thing Telus is doing now. In Canada’s mobile oligopoly market, the carriers still prohibit people from tethering their mobile with their computers completely. Hopefully all this will change soon with new government guidelines, but the entire issue has died down after the iPhone finally arrived.

RIM’s much anticipated Blackberry Storm is set to launch on November 21 2008 on the Verizon network in the US. It will launch in time for the holidays in Canada with Telus. Notably, the Blackberry Storm specifications include a 3.15mp camera (2048×1536 pixels, autofocus, video, flash), 128MB RAM, 1GB internal memory, 624 MHz processor, A-GPS, and a whole lot more. This is RIM’s first touch screen device and features heptic technology where the user feels as if he is really pressing on a physical button on the touch screen. RIM will also launch an app store that will only initially support the Storm, which is clearly a competitor to Apple’s online app store. However, many people maintain there is no need for a touch screen BB and also because the OS is so simple (which is a good thing), a touch screen simply isn’t warranted. Additioanlly, it is expected RIM will soon launch the upgrade to the Curve which will likely arrive very early in 2009.