According to the industry research group NPD, the BlackBerry Curve was the best-selling smart phone during the first quarter of 2009.
From January through March of 2009, Research in Motion’s smart phone market share increased an eye-popping 15%, to a total market share of 50% for the first quarter. During the same period, Apple’s iPhone piece of the pie fell 10%.
But there is more going on in this battle of sexy, solution-focused smart phones than first meets the eye.
The now iconic iPhone, clearly a phenomenal device that’s in the news more often than Obama and Britney, has one fatal marketing drawback that is allowing the bold executives at RIM a chance at market dominance.In a word (actually, this is gonna take a whole parapraph), the iPhone is tied in the US to a single carrier, namely AT&T, and a powerful argument has been made that many of the complaints regarding the iPhone have less to do with the handheld marvel than the limitations of AT&T’s ability to provide proper network speeds and capable connectivity consistency necessary to allow the iPhone to perform the way it was designed.
If you’ll permit the backward-ass metaphor, it’s not unlike trying to rate a high-end Italian sports car on a race track that involves four-way stops, school districts and heavy road construction. In such an example, the sports car simply cannot and will not display its full capabilities.
Looking forward, there are additional elements in play that will make the RIM/Apple showdown even more exciting. AT&T’s exclusivity contract with Apple is coming up for renewal, and word on the street is that Apple is talking to Verizon.
Add to that RIM’s upcoming, aggressive portfolio of new and refreshed devices, all of which build on customer feedback, and one can easily see that that both parties are interested in delivering the best, most powerful business solutions to end-users.
But RIM has an added advantage in the US in that its fine, formidable portfolio of powerful products is offered, in various configurations, on NUMEROUS carriers! Furthermore, the addition of BlackBerry’s App Store provides yet another compelling reason to give the phone a furtive look.
The take-away here for consumers is that no mattter what the outcome, YOU win. Strong, smart, vibrant companies are developing take-your-breath-away devices that push the limits of what a smart phone can be and offer unparalled access to third party applications that will allow your phone to be more productive, more fun and more useful than ever.
Enjoy! The rules have changed. We as consumers are a far cry from just a short time ago when every single thing we wanted to do was expensive, proprietary, and sloppy.
From this writers view, cell phone users can only benefit!
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BlackBerry Battles, Gains Marketshare | Add your Comments
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