Launch-time for BlackBerry Storm, but not very much to talk about when it comes to crowds of eager buyers lining up in front of the Verizon Wireless stores at 8 a.m. in the morning. Let’s be fair, people did line up, but no more than 150-200 people in front of one store, which is nothing compared to the touch-screen smartphone everyone’s competing with, the iPhone.

According to several reports, the BlackBerry Storm sold out in some stores, but that could have something to do with policy of not taking pre-orders.

The reactions regarding Research in Motion’s first touch-screen BlackBerry were mixed. It is an exciting gadget, and its touch-screen technology is truly amazing, giving users the feeling that they’re using a real keyboard.

And as a true BlackBerry, Storm could not give up its QWERTY keyboard. RIM chose to make a full QWERTY touch-screen keyboard available in landscape mode. A built-in accelerometer allows the touch-screen to automatically switch between landscape mode and portrait mode when the user rotates the handset.

In addition to that, BlackBerry Storm also offers a full HTML browser which works both in portrait and landscape orientations. The touch-screen technology makes the most of the browsing experience with double tap to zoom and slide fingers to scroll and pan options.

But, the big question is: how many business people are willing to change their old BlackBerry for an iPhone-like one, or how many casual users are willing to switch to the BlackBerry experience? Sales figures will surely tell, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.