Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry Storm will make its U.S. debut through Verizon Wireless next week for $199.99, taking on Apple Inc.’s best-selling iPhone 3G.

The touch-screen phone will be available Nov. 21, Verizon, the second-largest U.S. wireless carrier, said today. The BlackBerry comes with Internet access and lets users download and store music.

Research In Motion is looking to models such as the Storm and the Bold, sold by AT&T Inc., to win back customers from Apple, whose iPhone 3G became the most popular handset with U.S. consumers last quarter. Verizon has exclusive rights to provide service for the phone in the U.S., similar to AT&T’s deal for the iPhone, the touch-screen handset made by Apple.

“This is the first time a mainstream carrier, and I mean Verizon, will make a BlackBerry its main product for the Christmas selling season,” said Barry Richards, an analyst at Paradigm Capital Inc. in Toronto. “It’s an enormous change from the traditional BlackBerry that we’ve come to know and love, and it does represent quite a big opportunity.” Richards owns shares of Research In Motion and advises investors to buy the stock.

The Storm phones cost $199 after customers mail in a $50 rebate coupon and sign up for a 2-year contract with Verizon, according to the company’s Web site. Apple, whose iPhone 3G sells for $199 with a contract, shipped 6.89 million last quarter, according to researcher NPD Group Inc. Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion sold 6.1 million BlackBerrys.

‘Destined’

Research In Motion may ship as many as 2 million Storms to carriers worldwide this quarter, Richards said. The company has debuted multiple handsets this year, including the Bold and Pearl Flip, to win more consumers, shifting from the typical business user, he said.

“The Storm is destined to sell a lot,” Richards said. “When you’ve got Vodafone and Verizon, two of the five largest carriers in the world, you’re in pretty good shape.”

The U.S. market for smart phones, which offer more advanced e-mail and Web-surfing features than the average handset, more than doubled in the third quarter from a year ago, according to Reading, U.K.-based Canalys. Research In Motion’s shipments increased 84 percent, propelled by models that target non- business users, the researcher said.

New York-based Verizon Communications Inc., which jointly owns the wireless company with Vodafone Group Plc, rose $2.18, or 7.5 percent, to $31.14 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Research In Motion rose 60 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $43.80 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

Source:Bloomberg