‘Blackberry Storm’ was launched on Monday by Telecom operator Vodafone Essar in India. Storm is the premier touchscreen phone, which has been developed by the company exclusively with Canada-based technology provider Research In Motion (RIM).

Vodafone Essar Director Marketing and New Business Harit Nagpal reported, “The market for smartphones in India is at a very nascent stage and growing rapidly. ‘Blackberry Storm' takes the 3G experience a step forward.”

It should be noted that the first "clickable" touchscreen smartphone from Blackberry, 'Storm' has been developed by RIM for exclusive distribution through Vodafone globally and carries a price tag of Rs. 27,990.

The users would be glad to knonote t hat Storm provides a lot of space for visual experience, an advantage over earlier Blackberry models and its touchscreen keypad can be removed, when not in use.

RIM Vice President (UK) Christoph Lingenthal informed, “We received a tremendous response for Storm when it was launched in Europe a few months back, despite the recession. We hope that very many handsets will be lapped up in India when it hits the market on January 15.”

For transmitting e-mails through servers located outside the country, encrypted data is used by blackberry phones.

Following the 26/11 terror attacks, these phones came under the Department of Telecom's (DoT) scanner, since regulatory bodies could not monitor the data, heightening security concerns.