Vodafone is aiming for Friday 7 November as the launch date for the new BlackBerry Storm, but it could be delayed as the company attempts to get stock into stores in time, Mobiletoday understands.
The operator has already been heavily marketing the device on billboards and on television, racking up 70,000 pre-registrations.
The phone will be given away for free on two-year contracts for £35 a month tariffs – a ‘talk’ option, offering 700 minutes, 250 texts and the choice of either unlimited calls to landlines or unlimited calls to other Vodafone numbers.
There is also an unlimited text version that comes with 600 minutes and a fair usage cap of 3,000 texts per month.
Customers will be able to sign up on 18 month contracts, but will have to spend £40 a month.
Both packages come with six months free music downloads and six months free satellite navigation.
The phone is understood to be launched on 7 November at Vodafone’s flagship store on Oxford Street in London with F1 motor racer Lewis Hamilton at the store.
Vodafone is telling customers who sign up for the Storm online that they will aim to deliver it to customers by 11 November.
Retail staff have undergone considerable training by representatives from Blackberry’s parent company RIM, which sees the Storm as a landmark handset in breaking past its loyal corporate customers and into the mass market consumers.
One staff member at Vodafone said: ‘It just looks incredible. I’ve seen the iPhone and this hammers it. We reckon we’ll sell tons of them. I’m really glad we’ve got this exclusively.’