Verizon Wireless will provide a redoubtable opponent for the iPhone 3G this winter, as the long-awaited BlackBerry Storm now has a price and a release date. The first touchscreen BlackBerry will come out on November 21st for the reasonable price of $199 with a two year contract.

Storm is the first phone made by BlackBerry that utilizes the touchscreen technology and even though this is not a new thing in terms of innovation, people expect a lot of things from BlackBerry’s latest gadget. The phrase “iPhone killer” is on everybody’s lips and because the phone will be released just before the start of the holiday shopping frenzy, people expect the phone to be sold in large numbers.

The BlackBerry storm features a large display, 3.25-inch, with a resolution of 360 by 480. BlackBerry noted the usual complaints people have with touchscreen phones and have realized tam many devices have issues when it comes down to typing. Blackberry implemented a new system in Storm called “SurePress” that makes the user choose from the type of keyboard most needed in one given moment. Holding the phone in portrait mode brings up a virtual SureType keyboard and holding the device in landscape brings up a fill Qwerty keyboard.

BlackBerry users will find that the Storm is a reliable product designed by the company they trust so much. The blackberry Storm will feature strong support for easily accessing e-mail accounts and it is said that the security features on the Storm make it more enterprise-friendly than Apple’s iPhone.