Yes, it’s true. Just like CrackBerry‘s reporting. According to NPD (via Engadget), the oldest remaining version of the BlackBerry Curve, when heavily discounted and given away in two-for-one promo deals, briefly regained the #1 best seller position on the smartphone index from the iPhone 3G, which had to settle for a high-margin #2. Also, discounted and given away two-for-one, when combined with heavy marketing and the power and reach of the Verizon network… did not. BlackBerry Storm was #3.

Cutting margins and giving away product may pad the numbers, but as Palm found out with the Centro, you can’t make “zero” up on volume.