Verizon Wireless and Research In Motion have big plans for the BlackBerry Storm, which they took about 2 years developing their answer to Apple iPhone. But although having a marketing campaign that cost more than $100 million, the smart phone has had a start. Several early buyers have sounded off about technical bugs with RIM’s first touch screen BlackBerry, although others admit that most new gadgets have problems that need to be made right.

People acquainted with the issue say Verizon Wireless, the main U.S. carrier for the device, sold about 500,000 units in the first month after the Storm’s November 21 launch. That is a good start, though well off the pace of AT&T Inc.’s sale of 2.4 million iPhone 3G devices in that phone’s first full quarter on the market.The Storm owners complaints have ranged from everything relating to clunky software for typing on the touch screen to the device’s slower performance with basic tasks like dialing-by-voice or taking pictures.