The Wall Street Journal has published a report describing the BlackBerry Storm as getting off to “a bumpy start”. It follows previous high-profile criticism including an overwhelmingly negative review in the New York Times.

The Journal report says the device sold around 500,000 units in the month after its Nov. 21 launch. That figure could be confirmed in a financial report due tomorrow from Verizon, the exclusive US network carrier of the device.

The report says early problems with the device were caused by manufacturers Research In Motion wanting to get it on sale as early as possible, with the key goal being to be on the market before Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when many US stores run high-profile sales.

RIM chairman Jim Balsillie is quoted as saying beating such deadlines rather than delaying a product launch until it’s glitch-free is the “new reality” of cellphone marketing.

The issue of glitches with the Storm is somewhat cloudy as there are three different types of problem:

• genuine production errors and bugs;

• problems caused in adapting the standard BlackBerry operating system to work with a touchscreen phone; and

• issues which are not bugs as such and are simply caused by customers not liking the experience of a touchscreen BlackBerry.

It’s another example of mainstream media coverage being a serious problem for tech firms. Upon the launch of the Storm, RIM found itself at the wrong end of a blistering review in the New York Times. While some tech enthusiasts speculated about the objectivity of the review, pointing to the writer’s previous enthusiasm for Apple products, it will likely have created a poor impression of the Storm for many casual buyers.

Similarly the complaints raised in the Wall Street Journal report may not be anything new to avid tech news followers, but the newspaper is extremely influential in the business world. Despite the report’s mention of potentially encouraging sales figures, the complaints appear to have alarmed investors: RIM’s shares dropped more than five per cent today.

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Entry was posted on Monday, January 26th, 2009 at 6:42 pm under Cell phones, Technology.

Read more entries by John Lister.
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