The official answer will be clear as day Friday, but until the nationwide launch of the Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Storm the question still begs to be answered: what is the full retail price (sans-contract) for the Storm?  A quick look at Best Buy where the Storm is currently available for pre-order tells us that we will pay $599.99 and availability is limited to in-store only.  A visit to the BlackBerry Storm Hunt where Grand Prize winners will receiver their own Storm along with a $50 Gift Card says the Approximate Retail Value is $549.  When taking into account the value of the Gift Card it seems logical that the Storm should retail for $499.

To help build the case for the $499 retail pricing, a user over at HoFo posted a photo late last night showing what appears to be an official BlackBerry Storm 9530 document.  The document clearly shows that the retail price is $499.99 to coincide with what we saw on the Verizon Storm Hunt website.  Now something to keep in mind is that Best Buy typically places a much higher retail price on their devices so if you put down your $50 deposit, you might want to take the refund and head to your local VZW store this Friday.  In any event, $499 is a bargain for a high-end smartphone from Verizon, the only question left is whether or not the Storm delivers on it’s promise of redefining the touchscreen.

Via Howard Forums