RIM Cancels Unannounced BlackBerry Storm 9570 for Verizon

According to an email sent out to BlackBerry developers, RIM has canceled work on the successor to the Storm2 in the 9570.  The 9570 was intended to be an updated Storm2 with a larger 3.7 inch SurePress display and support for BlackBerry 6 meant for release on Verizon Wireless.

“Thank you for your hard work and diligence in preparing your application to support the upcoming hardware refresh of the BlackBerry Storm2 smartphone (model number 9570, codename R027). Regrettably, RIM has decided not to pursue this device further and has ended the program.

However, rest assured that you will have the opportunity to leverage the work you’ve put in thus far in preparing for the new OS, as BlackBerry 6 will be making its way to more Verizon products in the near future, including the BlackBerry Bold 9650 and the BlackBerry Curve 9330.”

As the Verizon and Vodafone-exclusive Storm series was meant to be an answer to the then current iPhone 3G, the release of the device was meant to give the carriers a viable competitor.  In practice, the devices did little to persuade customers to buy it over the aforementioned iPhone 3G as the trump card in the SurePress touch display was derided for being unresponsive, with the Storm2 making only slight changes and even being silently recalled due to the same SurePress display.