So here’s the deal… by now, you’ve no doubt seen our theory on why the OS that shipped with the Verizon BlackBerry Storm was so low. We had all along thought that this OS was never actually intended to be released. While we ran our story on what we thought happened, we did make our best efforts to convey that the information published was nothing more than a theory from me personally, not from any of our official contacts, nor sources. We just received an official statement from RIM which effectively debunks our theory about the OS and the issues they faced prior to launch. Instead of commenting on the actual statement ourselves, we’ll let you. It’s after the jump, fellas and all my single ladies in the house!
1) The official code shipping with the BlackBerry Storm from Verizon Wireless is “v4.7.0.65 (Platform 4.0.0.82).” This information appears in the Options / About section on the handset. The first number (v4.7.0.65) is the software version that appears on the bar code sticker applied to the outside of the BlackBerry/Verizon Wireless box.
2) A limited batch of bar code stickers was initially printed with an incorrect software version number (the last two digits of the number was incorrectly listed as .82 instead of .65) and the stickers were applied to several thousand boxes. The error was detected early (and prior to launch) and new stickers with the correct software version number were printed and applied to the boxes over top of the incorrect stickers. Again, this only involved a relatively small batch of boxes.
3) There is not and never was a software version 4.7.0.82. A blogger noticed the incorrect sticker (underneath the correct sticker) on a box provided to him by Verizon Wireless and posted a “theory” suggesting (as a potential explanation for the second sticker) that the software may have been “downgraded” at the last minute and the blogger further speculated that this may have been due to a “security vulnerability”. It is very important to note that the blogger clearly and voluntarily stated upfront that it was only a theory. In fact, the blogger even described it as a “conspiracy theory” and wrote the following in his original post: “I want to preface this by saying that the following statements are my opinions and hypotheses, and have not be confirmed nor denied by any of sources of mine or official contacts at either corporation. It should serve as a nice little ‘conspiracy theory,’ though.”
4) The theory was incorrect. A software version 4.7.0.82 has never existed and there was no such security vulnerability. Further, the software was not downgraded as incorrectly theorized. The simple explanation for the presence of two stickers on a relatively small batch of boxes is that a limited number of misprinted stickers were discovered on boxes prior to launch and were covered with new (correct) stickers.”
So, there you have it. Thoughts?
