iSuppli’s teardown of the BlackBerry Storm revealed the Research In Motion (RIM) product includes a Qualcomm baseband chip and carries a materials and manufacturing cost of $202.89.
The cost includes all parts and manufacturing for the Storm but doesn’t include expenses related to intellectual property; royalties and licensing fees; software; shipping; logistics marketing and other channel costs.
Verizon Wireless is selling the Storm for $249.99 with a $50 rebate, which brings the balance to the same as the iPhone’s price of $199. Because carriers subsidize phones, the actual price and materials/manufacturing margin is difficult to determine, iSuppli says.
The use of the Qualcomm MSM7600 baseband processor represents the first time iSuppli’s Teardown Analysis Service has detected a part from Qualcomm in a RIM product. Previous teardowns showed that RIM used Marvell chips for that function. Other component supplier winning from the Storm include Synaptics, SanDisk and Samsung Electronics.