Quick Hits: Verizon Says Not Enough BlackBerries in the Bunch

Verizon (VZ) says it's sold about 1 million units of the BlackBerry Storm made by Research in Motion (RIMM) since introducing the device in November 2008 to compete with Apple's (AAPL) iPhone.

Verizon estimates that it could have sold another 200,000 Storm smartphones, but inventory was limited when the new product was launched.

Some users have complained that the device is slow, but Denny Strigl, Verizon's president and chief operating officer, told the Wall Street Journal, "We're happy with the device."

Verizon said it netted 1.2 million new wireless customers in the fourth quarter, boosting its total to 72.1 million. The total includes customers picked up through the acquisition of Alltel, a deal completed this month.

But the cellphone market is maturing and getting hit by the economic crunch. Verizon said it added 5.8 million wireless customers for the year, a decline from 6.9 million new customers added in 2007.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone (VOD). The wireless company said revenue grew 12.3% over last year to $12.8 billion. Text messaging, e-mail and Internet access drove revenue higher.