The first touch-screen BlackBerry phone will arrive in stores today in a fresh battle with competitor Apple.

The BlackBerry Storm offers many of the same features found on the Apple iPhone and will be available exclusively on the Vodafone network.

Tariffs start at £35 a month - the same as those for the iPhone -including unlimited internet browsing.

Research in Motion, the company behind the handset, is thought to be keen to broaden the BlackBerry's appeal beyond its traditional business base.

The Storm has up to 16GB of storage, enough for more than 3,000 songs, and users will be able to download tracks on to the device from the Vodafone Music Store.

It has a 3.25in high resolution touchscreen and provides one-touch access to online social-networking sites such as Facebook and the photo-sharing site Flickr, as well as built-in satnav and mapping software.

The phone features a 3.2-megapixel camera, compared to the iPhone's two-megapixel camera.

Ernest Doku, from mobile phone price comparison site Omio.com, said: "The Storm is the latest attempt to move the BlackBerry brand from the boardroom to the bistro and court the more casual shopper.

"With a huge 3.2in high resolution touchscreen, headphone jack, iTunes support and multimedia playback, the Storm is a far cry from the simplistic mail workhorses of a few years ago.

"That's not to say it isn't still a BlackBerry at heart, with a document viewer, email and instant messaging functionality and a robust internet browser built in."

He added: "With every smartphone claiming to make web browsing a mobile experience indistinguishable from surfing at home, the Storm is one of the few that have come even close to it."

A cheaper alternative to the BlackBerry, the "Facebook phone", was launched yesterday in time for the Christmas market.

Mobile phone company 3 will release the handset into UK stores on an as yet undisclosed date before Christmas.

The phone integrates the social networking site with the traditional functions of a mobile phone, such as a contacts book and message inbox.

The INQ1 - pronounced "ink one" - has been dubbed the Facebook phone because it allows users to access their social networking circle at the touch of a button.

It is aimed at users who find smartphones such as the iPhone, Blackberry and G1 too expensive but still want to use social networking, email and instant messaging as well as surf the internet on the move.

The INQ1 will be free on contracts from £15 a month.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said: "We are really happy to be working with INQ to bring its customers a deeply-integrated Facebook experience.

"More than 15 million Facebook users currently access the site through their mobile devices. This number has doubled over the past six months, and we expect it to continue to grow as people become even more familiar with handsets like the INQ."