Research in Motion, the Canadian manufacturer of the BlackBerry family of smartphones, is hoping that its first touch-screen handset, launched on Wednesday morning, will live up to its name: The BlackBerry Storm.

Certainly, based on my initial observations, the Storm represents the most impressive response to date to the challenge posed by Apple’s 3G iPhone and should help RIM consolidate its dominant position in the corporate smartphone market while extending its push into the market for consumer smartphones.