I never considered BlackBerries. I had a Sony Ericcson phone for a while, then switched to Motorola. When I went to Australia in my third year of study for one semester I figured I'd need another phone for my second SIM card I use in Australia in order to be available here (still keeping my first SIM in my Motorola phone in order to receive messages and calls from family and friend who only now my 1st SIM's number). I started doing research on BlackBerries in July and have been waiting for the STORM ever since. I wanted the STORM to be my first BlackBerry ever. BUT as explained I needed a cheap functional phone here in Australia, so I went on eBay.com.au and bought a BB 7290 for $30.
So my first BlackBerry is the 7290 but I will get the STORM before Christmas once I'm back in Germany :)