For those Americans who simply cannot wait another week for RIM’s first touchscreen device, travel to Britain. England’s premiere mobile service, Vodafone, is already selling the units. The BlackBerry Storm has officially released in England, and the Vodafone plan is offering them up for free with the obligatory contract. Of course, the free Storm may not make up for the flight, hotel and copious servings of bangers and mash. Still, for you Britons it’s a great deal.

While Verizon "twiddles" their thumbs about the release of the Blackberry Storm, Vodafone is taking some initiative in getting the device to market. The phone is going to be available on the Vodafone network before Verizon and the people at T3 have posted pictures of it’s unboxing.

Once again it looks like Europe is going to beat North America to the punch about their market readiness of devices. All I know is that I can’t wait to test one out.

While the Bold officially launches today and Verizon Storm still awaits release, Blackberry fans of the world may rejoice in learning that the GSM-only version of the much awaited phone has just received FCC approval. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets released on Vodafone before it hits the streets of the U.S.

According to Vodafone, the phone will have: 1 GB of memory, 192 MB RAM, 3.2 megapixel camera, Video capture, A-GPS and Quad-band. No idea if it is 3G or will work with AT&T’s 3G network but it’s still exciting news.