Apple challenges RIM smartphone lead
Recent numbers put up by RIM and Apple in the smartphone marketplace may presage a basic change in the industry, predicting a future in which the playing field is much more even than in the past.
At a time in history dominated by a worldwide economic recession, leading to reduced sales in the overall cell phone marketplace, the growth in smartphone sales has continued to surprise many observers of the industry. During this period of surprising smartphone sector growth, another interesting phenomenon has been taking place: Apple has been increasing their share of the smartphone market while RIM and their Blackberries have been seeing their market share drop.
A new report from RedOrbit chronicles RIM’s recent market share losses and relates those losses to surges in the sales of other smartphones, especially the iPhone from Apple and the Pre from Palm. In its most recent financial report, RIM disclosed that they had once again failed to meet their revenue and profit goals. A part of that shortfall was a write-down taken for a specific single loss, but another part is explainable only by a slower sales growth than their competition.
During the last several quarters, Apple’s iPhone has continued to gain market share, though RIM has remained far and away the leader in the smartphone market. Several consecutive quarters of this, however, are beginning to paint a new and different picture of the world of smartphones. Although the Pre has not performed at the level that Palm had expected, it is likely that most of the Pres sold were at the expense of the Blackberry. At the same time, Apple’s iPhone has gained market share every quarter, certainly at the expense of RIM.
It is beginning to look like RIM is vulnerable even in the corporate smartphone market. On the one hand, new phones like the iPhone and Pre are diluting its share of the corporate side of the smartphone sector, long RIM’s strong suit, at the same time as new RIM offerings like the Storm are failing to make inroads in the consumer smartphone sector. The big winner so far is Apple with the iPhone. The iPhone is growing as a corporate tool, especially given the huge number of business apps available from the Apple App Store, while simultaneously Apple continues to maintain its lead in consumer smartphones, and even to increase that lead. If RIM is not careful and smart, it may find itself in a dead heat with Apple in the smartphone marketplace.
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October 3rd, 2009
I find that the iPhone is fantastic with all these little apps, being able to do pretty much everything on the move is fantastic. You can attend to pretty much anything, anywhere, anytime! The future has arrived and I love it!