BlackBerry Storm and Xperia X1 are coming, but people probably won't be happy

By Keith Shaw on Thu, 11/13/08 - 11:17am.

Some interesting news this week on the smart phone front: First, AT&T and Sony Ericsson announced that its Xperia X1 device will go on sale in the U.S. the day after Thanksgiving. The $800 (yes, not a typo) device will be a likely tough sell, because it will be sold exclusively at AT&T, which, by the way, already sells the iPhone (and at a much lower rate). Why is the price tag so high? Because the device is unlocked, so in theory you could buy an X1 and then take it to another carrier and run it on their network. There's just a teensy small problem, though: The X1 runs on the GSM network, so the only other carrier in the U.S. that you could run to is T-Mobile, and it just so happens that the X1 can't run on the frequencies that T-Mobile's 3G network uses here. So, good luck with that phone.

Second, the BlackBerry Storm from Verizon Wireless and Research In Motion will launch in the U.S. on Nov.21 for $199.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate, and two-year agreement). But based on these comments, there probably won't be lines out the door because of the missing Wi-Fi features on the device.