Blackberry Storm May Price Out At $99 For Holidays

The Blackberry Storm is the first touch phone for RIM, the manufacturer of the 9530. However, anonymous sources say the Storm which retails for $500, will definitely be priced below the $199 which the iPhone sells for currently.

A $99 price for the Blackberry Storm would send sales of the device through the roof. It has touchscreen navigation, 3.2 megapixel digital camera, video capability, 15 days of standby time and 5.5 hours of talk time. This is the phone that has been called the “iPhone slayer.”

Devout Blackberry users are hotly anticipating the phone which supports 1GB of onboard memory and 128 MB of flash memory. It weighs just 5.5 ounces and unlike its competitor is SMS and MMS capable. The iPhone is not SMS capable.

So far, Verizon hasn’t had much success with its touchscreen devices. But if the Blackberry Storm is a hit, it could finally establish Verizon as a serious player in the red-hot touchscreen market. A $99 price point would allow Verizon to make a killing during the holiday season. The $500 retail cost may have to be recouped over a two year contract period from customers causing Verizon Wireless to subsidize over half the price of the smartphone.

Verizon Wireless may introduce Blackberry Storm just in time to spur holiday sales, by launching a special deal on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. But, right now we can only speculate on a price point for the Blackberry Storm.