Vodafone needs to use Voodoo to boost sales of Blackberry Storm - UPDATED

We’ve modified this piece after feedback from Vodafone.

Old Story:

Vodafone initially saw the Blackberry Storm storm off the shelves at the rate of 20,000 per week, but that’s now dropped to around 6,000.

Initially touted at a consumer phone Vodafone want to position it in the SME arena and are training staff to better understand the smartphone. Vodafone may also bundle a 3G dongle in order to make it more attractive.

RIM haven’t quite got the software right and although it they’ve tried – it’s no iPhone.

Vodafone have got a hard slog ahead of them.

New Story:

Vodafone Group tell us they’ve sold over 350,000 Blackberry Storm handsets — and crucially, this doesn’t include the Verizon figures.

Now there are various reports across the market claiming that Verizon have sold more than a million Blackberry Storm handsets since November 2008.

Which would bring total sales — this is back-of-fag-packet-calculations — to 1.35 million.

Now even if you assume these figures are pinch-of-salt territory, the handset is doing pretty well.

I managed to grab a friend’s device for a few hours. Gorgeous, initially. But I’m not sure what day to day usage will be like as I am 100% accustomed to the Bold’s keyboard.