Due to a flaw discovered at the last minute, Verizon’s up and coming BlackBerry Storm may fall short in numbers, said an insider to press. A security problem was discovered by RIM at the last moment so they and Verizon were forced to update the firmware on the fly at the last moment. This will seriously reduce the supplies of the smartphone on its launch day. For instance one Verizon store who was set to receive 100 units will now receive just 40.

This solution will still leave Verizon stores with a supply of phones for launch day, but it will spread it around. The shortage in the main shops aside, third-party retailers of the Storm such as Best Buy are now being given second priority and may be forced to push back their store dates in order to have sufficient stock in their carrier stores.

If the launch would have been delayed, it would not have boded well for the Storm, which is Research In Motion’s first BlackBerry model to feature a touchscreen. It is being dubbed by analysts as Verizon’s best bet at fighting AT&T’s iPhone 3G. Apple sold one million of the updated iPhones all over the world during its launch weekend. Most iPhone sales have been made in the U.S.

The Storm has several potential trumps over Apple’s device. Aside from the new interface, there is cut-and-paste text, a “clickable” capacitive touchscreen, full turn-by-turn GPS navigation and removable accessories like its battery and microSDHC memory cards.