BlackBerry Storm 2 may get Wi-Fi and tweaked touchscreen

RIM's next BlackBerry Storm might come with a tweaked touchscreen, in the hope of alleviating complaints about the first edition.

Several publications have picked up on an interview given by RIM's Alain Segond von Banchet, channel sales manager for BlackBerry in the Netherlands, in which the executive discusses a BlackBerry Storm 2 in frank terms. Google translations can be sketchy, but here's the original interview, published by Tweakers.net.

The Storm 2 may not wind up being the final name for the new device, von Banchet said, but the device will come with a new way of entering data. That jibes with claims made by The Boy Genius Report on Tuesday that the next Storm will use a new screen to make typing easier.

Some reviewers and users of the first BlackBerry Storm were put off by the touchscreen, as well as the lack of Wi-Fi, which will supposedly be addressed with the second iteration of the Storm.

The revamped device might be pretty far away from store shelves, however. KPN, a wireless carrier in the Netherlands, is expected to have the Storm 2 by the end of this year or the beginning of the next, and there's no indication when other carriers might be in line to start selling it on their networks.