With all the hype surrounding Apple's iPhone 4 launch, it's easy to forget that RIM's BlackBerry still has the largest share of the US smartphone market. Apple made a big deal about selling 1.7 million iPhone 4's in 3 days, but RIM still beats them in marketshare.
RIM has about 35% of the US smartphone market while Apple comes in with 28%. The problem for RIM is that their share of the market is shrinking while others are gaining on them. It wasn't that long ago that RIM was over 43%, and 5 years ago they were over 50% of the US market. Apple is gaining on them and Android is really putting on the heat. According to Gartner, Android will become the second-best-selling smartphone platform worldwide behind Symbian by 2012.
If RIM wants to continue its lead the company needs to step up and put out some compelling phones. With so many Android phones being introduced, and the iPhone's popularity, RIM needs to create a must-have device to stay viable. We'll see what they come up with. Could the BlackBerry Slider give them a boost?
RIM has about 35% of the US smartphone market while Apple comes in with 28%. The problem for RIM is that their share of the market is shrinking while others are gaining on them. It wasn't that long ago that RIM was over 43%, and 5 years ago they were over 50% of the US market. Apple is gaining on them and Android is really putting on the heat. According to Gartner, Android will become the second-best-selling smartphone platform worldwide behind Symbian by 2012.
If RIM wants to continue its lead the company needs to step up and put out some compelling phones. With so many Android phones being introduced, and the iPhone's popularity, RIM needs to create a must-have device to stay viable. We'll see what they come up with. Could the BlackBerry Slider give them a boost?
