Sure, a site or two might have reported yesterday that Bell is going to be launching the BlackBerry Storm on December 15, but we’ve just heard from our favorite Bell ninja that it looks like there a delay in store for the Bell Storm. While Bell has always maintained that the Storm will be available in time for Christmas, the fact that it’s now ordering managers to suggest alternatives to clients on the Storm wait list is rather troubling. He’s what our ninja had to say:
We are being told to take down all promotional P.O.P. (point of purchase displays) for the Storm and are being advised to expect a delay in Storm shipments. They did not say how much of a delay but managers are being advised to start making up sales through the current Bell line up for the Christmas season as we may not see the storm till after the Christmas rush. (Which if the last few years are any indication we usually consider the first 2 weeks of January apart of the Christmas/New Year rush)
We are also being told to stop taking names for “waiting lists” and that in the near future we may need to start contacting these current “wait list” clients to offer them new solutions.
We’re also hearing some grumblings that Telus may delay the launch of its Storm as well, though we are not able to confirm this for the time being. One thing we feel should be noted is that Telus has been heavily advertising the Storm for at least a month while Bell has just started. If there were a serious issue that needed fixing with the Canadian units, would Telus feel pressured to release a device with an unfinished OS much like Verizon / Vodafone, while Bell just takes the delay on the chin?
Thanks, Dan!
