That's too bad for us huh? Still waiting for the update to stop the screen from dimming.

Maybe they just mean the Storm 9530?

Everything that's wrong with it, its probably a good idea. There are SO many things they have yet to address. Can't wait for my upgrade.

I said Buh Bye.

Adios!

Maybe good bye storm and hello iphone deal?

That Blackberry devices are the best handsets on the market. If only they offered as much memory as the iphone. I think the storm would be more popular. People are afraid to download too many things on their devices because they are afraid of memory leaks, slowing down their phone, etc. With 60GB, that would be unheard of. My opinion, anyway...

Now hopefully when my storm craps out again I can get a storm2 from Verizon cause I dnt see an update no time soon for us storm9530 users

They are trying to sell the Storm 2 and the Droid and whatever other new device comes out, that's all.

Nothing to see here, folks...move along now.

The Storm 2 is the newest series of RIM touchscreen phones...so why sell the Storm 9530/9500 anymore? Seems logical...just like any other business would do. Out with the old obsolete products just like every other business out there.

Verizon still has both Storm models and I see no point in that. The Storm2 is a decent phone and I don't see it going away anytime soon unless a Storm3 is ready.

I say Storm 1 disappears right about the time Storm 3 arrives. :D ...no sense in having 3 generations of a phone in the store.

Why would they continue to sell both the storm 1 AND storm 2? Do you go into car dealerships and have to decide between the current model and last years model?

Liquidate the inventory and move on. Jeesh.

As long as this only refers to the 9530 Storm, then fine by me. It's my current phone, but with the 9550 being the newer and superior phone, there's no reason to keep the older one around as well.

They are removing the 9530 and making room for the Storm 3 with slide out keyboard :) Just makes sense to stop producing the 9530 at some point. I still love mine, minus the 18MB of memory at bootup.

I hope Verizon releases the .419 OS before they drop the 9530. I'm already running it but some don't want to use it unless Verizon releases it.

Although I am a diehard 6 year(not 6 yrs old LOL) blackberry user and abuser. the fact that Iphone has upped its game with the 3gs may get me too go to the other side. I know lots of people swearing by the technology that Rim and Big Red are lacking for the Storms and other units. so will I migrate from my storm to whatever soon??? we shall see

I can confirm this, VZW has designated it as an end of life device, along with the 8330, 8230, and 8830. This means that they have ceased ordering any more units. Hopefully it doesn't spell the end of OS support for these devices.

Could it be these "analysts" are just to dumb to know there's a difference between Storm and torm2, and hearing that the old Storm is being formally phased out they think that's end of the line for both?

If its just the 9500 and 9530, that is logical.

I mean, the Curve2/85xx series has come out and they then discontinued the Curve/83xx series, right?

Since the Storm2 9520 and 9550 have been out for a while, why keep the older 9500/9530 around?

Now if their discontinuing off ALL Storms 9530, 9500, 9550, 9520, then I'd start to wonder.

I will say I agree with smnc, how the Storm idea was flawed. Billed by many as an iPhone "killer" or at least competitor, it was never anything more than a good Berry with its physical keyboard and track ball replaced by a touch screen. As such, it disappointed many. Then add in some of the software problems fixed by later releases, screen issues many encountered, etc.

NOTE: my original Storm stayed in service for over a year, and still works perfectly after doing the "electrical tape inside the battery door" trick

Is this another early "april fools" joke?

I would be extremely dissapointed if the Storm 2 was DI'd. After having the 9530 for about 9 months I can say it was a dump. However, the Storm 2 has been perfect. Just look at the addition of Slacker 3.0. This is great news. This is a solid device that is at the top with build quality compared to the 9700. I am very happy with the 9550 and will not see changing to another phone soon. The problem is we are not sure what to compare it to. As others mentioned, it is not the Iphone or the Droid. It is not for the novice users for sure. Is is somewhere in between those phones and a Bold. If we stop trying to compare it to a class it's not in, we would be very content with the device. If you want a Droid or Iphone type device, then go get it and be happy. I love the 9550 and am glad RIM righted the ship with the device.

I think it would be wrong at this point. Original Storm....good bye. Storm2 works for me.

Blackberry Storm 2
Customer Services Communications -
19/02/2010

There has been a great deal of noise in the media and on customer forums about the Blackberry Storm 2 and speculation that Vodafone is no longer stocking the device. This is not the case and in the event that you receive any enquiries on this from customers, here is some information you can give to them:

*The Storm 2 is now available to buy online through Vodafone.co.uk and we continue to receive a steady supply of stock.

*We're also continuing to provide support for customers who have purchased the device through Vodafone, as we do with all other devices in our range

*In addition to the Storm 2, customers can choose from a wide range of smart phone and email devices from Blackberry, Nokia, Apple and other leading manufacturers and this range will continue to evolve to keep up with the fast-paced development of handsets.

*We constantly evaluate our handset range to ensure it meets customers' demands for the latest and greatest phones and we will continue to introduce new devices moving forward.

I just migrated from the Storm 1 over to the Tour 9630. I loved my Storm however like many are stating there were a lot of problems. If the rumor is true it will be sad to see the Storm go. I am going to keep my Storm ready at the waiting so if I get sick of my Tour I will have the trusty Storm ready to go.

I'd hardly call this a confirmation or anything close to it, but Sat I did try to buy a set of screen protectors from a VZW corporate store and they were out. When the gentleman tried to order them he said he was unable to do so, he seemed confused and surprised himself and said they were showing as unavailable for order.

Again, hardly a confirmation of any kind, but interesting.

This can only mean that a newer storm is around the corner.

It IS the original Storm that is being discontinued, and only to my knowledge the Verizon 9530. This is fact.

UPDATE: Although for discussion purposes my argument still stands below, I have confirmation that the Storm 1 9530 is on the End of Life list.

AGREE: on a device standpoint I understand dropping a predecessor to focus on the new model. Dropping the old one will open up more marketing and monies focus on a product that was developed for a reason.

DISAGREE: on a sales and revenue standpoint, I am sure that Authorized Retailers and Premium Retailers like the profit margins over the Storm2.

Altogether, I would say that retaining the Storm1 would keep retailers content and also customers happy that don't need WiFi or 16GB of storage. And $130 - $180 cheaper. I say keep it until the margin scale tips.

Maybe it's because the Storm (1) SUCKS? and SUCKS HARD? Just a thought. It looked interesting for a while (2 years ago?) but is no match for android phones, and we all know the iPhone is by the hand of god him (her?) self. I'll be moving to another device about 5 seconds after my 2-year contract expires this summer, and given RIM/Verizon's near total neglect of us early adopters, THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I WILL UPGRADE TO A STORM 2, EVER (no matter how much better than "totally mediocre" it may be). They had one chance to earn my brand loyalty, and, well... that was it.

I love my Storm2. I doubt they will get rid of that. All of this is pure speculation. They probably put the rumor out themselves to see what the market response is. The storm2 works great. I think if Verizon did a better job of informing its customers about OS updates the devices would be much better. Not to mention, they are ALWAYS the last to put out an official OS update.

My feeling is that IF anything at all happens, is that A, the exclusivity will go away, that is other carriers will be able to sell touch screen berries, and B, the Storm name may go away, and we MAY (and this is just 1 guy who knows NEXT to NOTHING) see RIM start adding the Touch designation to other lines for the hybrids, such has releasing a high end Bold Touch, and a lower end consumer Curve Touch, and maybe the Berries without keyboards would just be the BB Touch, or just have model numbers. I think the problem is the Storm name itself and all the negative press it got. But we shall see. And remember I know next to NOTHING. I am so far from an insider it's almost laughable!

... and we'll continue to see the 9550 shipped.

And really, is this big news at all? We knew that would happen at some point.

And normally, if Verizon is going to discontinue a model, we would see prices drop to try to clear inventory. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the 9550 hasn't dropped in price since it arrived.

Now you can pick up a storm for $29.99 if you order it from verizon's website that should tell you something. My 9530 just went crazy actually the camera quit working, it started freezing...called verizon and they are sending me a storm 2 at no additional cost. Can't wait to play with this thing.