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Thursday June 18, 2009
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 The Apple iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre may be running away with the buzz right now, but BlackBerry maker Research in Motion still leads in sales--by a long shot.
According to new IDC data, RIM has 55.3 percent of the U.S. smartphone market. Apple is in second with 19.5 percent. (At last check, Palm was still in the low single digits, but that could change markedly with the new Pre.) As CNNMoney.com points out, compared with the third quarter of 2008--just six months prior--RIM had just 40.4 percent, while Apple commanded a whopping 30.1 percent.
"The buzz about other signature devices can make people overlook RIM's success," said Ryan Reith, senior research analyst at IDC, in the article. Analysts cite RIM's business expertise, competitive pricing, and new lineup of consumer products as reason for the company's continued sales surge. One Gartner analyst said in the report that RIM shouldn't get too comfortable, because its UI is falling behind--something I'm inclined to agree with.
As is happening more and more with reports like this, there's no mention of Windows Mobile whatsoever--or, disappointingly, Android, which had plenty of promise out of the gate but appears to be stalled in the U.S. market.
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June 18, 2009 5:36 PM
Please help me understand how "buzz" and "...an advanced UI" equate to sales? Don't the numbers speak for themselves? It would seem that an overwhelmingly intuitive UI and rock solid performance is what consumers desire. Flash and bling have a niche - that niche will never give Apple or Palm the edge
July 1, 2009 5:12 PM
I have seen these sales numbers and totally agree... RIM is tops in sales and the iphone is not even close. All of the consumer chatter about the iphone is just that... the real competitor for windows mobile is blackberry and I am sure the execs at MS clearly know this. They are probably laughing about all the iphone buzz.
November 5, 2009 2:08 PM
Palm is dead. Windows mobile is bye-bye, so what kind of ignorant guy would even bring them up except as a wildcard? The three competitors about to go into the largest tech war ever are RIM, Apple, and Google. RIM's ahead because of diverse product line, pricing, and multiple carriers. They are BEHIND in actual product and platform, and holding on because of prestige and brand loyalty inertia that is going to quickly erode if they don't get really competitive really fast. Apple continues to eat away market share at a faster growth rate than anyone. Nothing to spit at. They are now making it a permanent policy to offer older models of iPhone at reduced pricing indefinitely. As soon as they break out of the carrier-exclusivity, WATCH OUT! That being said, Android is going to rock the world. Their business model and platform model are mathematically nearly invincible. We're talking open platform (all hardware manufacturers competing with each other for who has the best Android: motorola, nokia, sony-ericson, samsung, lg, etc.). We're talking about the only smartphone available on pay-as-you-go plans being the Android (25% of the market). And we are talking about open source Java based development, which will attract apps like crazy. I believe Apple is ready to compete. Blackberry, not so sure.