Verizon Wireless has announced (officially) that the Blackberry Storm, the first touch screen Blackberry ever, will be in stores before the end of the year.

Featuring a 3.2 megapixel camera and a touch screen that reacts to screen presses by moving to simulate keypresses and provide feedback – this Blackberry is slated to compete head on with the iPhone in the consumer marketplace.

The Blackberry Storm operates on EVDO Rev A high speed data and therefore will feature speeds that could be in the 500 – 1mb download range. In addition the full Blackberry operating system featuring always on push email as well as Documents To Go is included with every device.

Memory space is 1 GB and you can add additional memory via MicroSD cards. The Blackberry Media Sync software will take care of transferring your music and videos though I would caution that any DRM music (ie – purchased from iTunes) will not play on the new Blackberry Storm.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone comes with an innovative touch-screen that actually depresses ever so slightly when the screen is pressed. The user distinctly feels the screen being pressed and released with a gentle “click”, similar to the feeling of a key on a physical keyboard or a button on a mouse. The “clickable” touch-screen gives the user positive confirmation that they have made a selection and the result is a dramatically enhanced touch interface and a highly-intuitive typing experience.

Expect RIM and Verizon to price this initially in the $299 range (my estimate – no official pricing has been announced) and that after the “early adopters” pay their tax in the form of higher initial prices that the price with rebate and 2 year contract will fall – probably into the same range as the Samsung Instinct which would make the post rebate consumer cost in the $99 to $149 range (Note: My speculation – nothing official yet on price).

Link: Blackberry Takes The World By Storm with Verizon Wireless