Will the New BlackBerry Create a Storm?

Okay, a bit punny, but BlackBerry is about to release it’s first device to compete directly with the iPhone, the BlackBerry Storm.

What does this mean for veteran BlackBerry users? Well, that depends on why you like your BlackBerry.

The Storm features a touchscreen that has the shortcut keyboard as well as a full QWERTY keyboard. I’ve never been wild about touchscreens on phones. Makes it a real bitch to try and dial/navigate while walking/driving. But for some, I assume this will be a great feature.

Where the Storm hooks me is with it’s new ability to send and receive e-mails while on the phone. This is an annoying detraction to all current Blackberrys. For me, I end up on long phone calls where it would be great to be able to send and receive e-mail.

More functionality for editing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The ability to sync your iTunes library, the first full function BlackBerry with a camera, streaming video, GPS. These are all great features.

However, I’m not sure I want my BlackBerry to have all these things. One of the things I love about my BlackBerry is that it pushes mail. Stop, period, end of sentence. It never crashes, freezes, or talks back. It just pushes mail. In 200 countries.

Now, it might not do some of those cool things other devices do, but it NEVER crashes. Would I take a significantly less stable device in exchange for these features? No.

So, the question of the day is, can RIM create a device with these pluses that isn’t unstable like a Treo or SmartPhone? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.