I’m new to BlackBerry, though not new to smartphones or touchscreens. After one month of Storm use, I have determined the Storm is not for current BlackBerry users. In fact, most (if not all) happy users of the BlackBerry 7000 or 8000 series will be quite disappointed with the Storm. This is not to say the Storm is bad, it is just very different and not at all “classic” BlackBerry. The Storm is not your dad’s bosses BlackBerry.

So, if the Storm is not an upgrade for any current BlackBerry user, then who the heck is this thing for? It is for a new crowd of future CrackBerry addicts.
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* It’s for the people who want an iPhone, but are required/forced/happy to use Verizon as a carrier. If you have great Verizon coverage, you’d probably want to stick with Verizon. The first rule to choosing a mobile phone is carrier. You need good coverage, otherwise your great device won’t work for you.
* It’s for people who want a cool gadget (i.e. iPhone, Google G1) but their employer will only allow BlackBerry devices to connect to corporate resources (i.e. email, calendar, etc). Many employers have large BlackBerry implementations, and for security and management purposes, will only allow BB devices to connect. So, iPhone, Palm, Windows Mobile, Android, etc are left in the cold.
* It’s for someone who has been considering moving to a smartphone from a standard cell phone. I’ve seen a few people retire their LG and Motorola flip-phones for Storms. It will be a big learning curve, but the Storm will open up things they have never seen/used before.
* It’s for the mobile media junky. Granted, iPhone is the mobile media king…but Storm may be coming in at a close second. With 9GB of storage (1GB on-board + 8GB included microSD), and supports 17GB of storage, the Storm has all the space needed for music, movies, TV shows, recorded videos, and photos. With a 3mp camera, the photo and video quality is quite good. The built-in flash allows the Storm to grab those must have photos/videos with quite good quality for a phone. The media player combined with the big/beautiful screen is great for watching shows and displaying album art.
* I can’t say the Storm is for the email/texting junky though. Like the iPhone and other touchscreen only phones, typing isn’t the strongest part of the phone. This is the big part of why previous BB users will be turned off. I’m coming from a Treo with full QWERTY keyboard, and the transition is tough. I’m now at the point where I can type email fairly quickly. Thanks to the Storm’s learning capabilities and SureType, I’m getting to the point where I can use it for occasional email. Though, it will not likely be as comfortable as the Treo (or traditional BlackBerry) keyboard, ever.