Hi
With regards to the button it looks like there is a design fault with the case that Vodafone supply with the Storm. I don't know if verizon will send out the Storm with the same case. Don't you guys in the States get a holster with Blackberrys?
"Vodafone was complete and utter UK FAIL"
Well yes and no. I think that Vodafone put the Storm on sale a bit to early. However the UK Vodafone eFourm for example was full of posts asking why Vodafone could not give us a date and screaming for the handset. If management at Vodafone take any notice of their own site and with Christmas next month there would of been a lot of pressure to get the Storm on sale. I am sure that RIM & Vodafone will fix most of the problems within a few weeks. (Can't wait to see what Verizon customers make of it)
From US website's & podcasts it looks to me as if Blackberry sell to a larger range of people in the States than they do in the UK. Until recently most people in the UK have seen Blackberry as a business tool. So for many people here the Storm will be their first Blackberry "maybe their first smartphone". This will bring its own issues, if in the past you have had a Nokia, a Sony Ericsson or a Samsung then its going to take time to get used to a Blackberry.
I feel that the iPhone is a consumer phone more than a business phone and
O2 here have sold it as such. I think that the Storm is more a business phone than a consumer phone, but Vodafone are trying to sell it to the consumer who would buy the iPhone.
As for how well people in the UK look after their phones, everyone is different. But no one will treat their handset like its a delicate piece of China all of the time. It should be expected to handle everyday life.
Alex