More market share blues for BlackBerry
From the latest US subscriber estimates, it looks like NZ carriers have been right to bet on Android.
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The latest smartphone figures from the US underline familiar themes.
Mobiles based on Google's Android software, which first took the number one spot in November last year, continue to widen their lead.
BlackBerry maker RIM continues to fall.
By Comscore's count, RIM lost one million US subscribers in the three months ending May, even as the total smart phone market grew 11% over the period, from 69.1 million users to 76.8 million people, representing 32.8% of the 234 million Americans aged over 13 using a mobile phone.
RIM reported a 9.6% fall in profit for its May quarter. Its shares fell 11% in a day as it warned ahead of its results.
In what the Financial Times reported as a "tense" conference call with analysts, chief executive Jim Basillie insisted the company's current problems were transitory rather than the start of a longer-term decline. "We all wish we could have got the new products out quicker," he said.
RIM's PlayBook tablet subsequently made it to the market, but hasn't been released in all countries. In comments made to NBR, the company was keen to get the PlayBook onto the New Zealand market - but was waiting on Vodafone to rouse its interest. Reuters reports initial PlayBook sales as "lumpy".
Nokia and Microsoft continue to lose market share as well, but are looking to a multi-billion dollar partnership (which will see the Sybian OS replaced on the Finnish company's high-end handsets by Windows Phone software).
NZ carriers onboard the Android express
Our three major phone companies seem to be banking that New Zealand will follow the Android market trend set by the US.
A second key RIM product, the BlackBerry Torch - which combines a touchscreen with a slidedown keyboard - is actually on the local market (see Vodafone's site here), not that you'd know.
Meantime, Vodafone continues to heavily promote the iPhone, and has bagged exclusive New Zealand rights, so far, to the top-selling Google Android brand, the Samsung Galaxy S series.
2degrees, which hasn't even bothered to support BlackBerries on its network, is pushing Huawei Androids.
And Telecom has made Android the central focus of its smartphone promotion, with Motorola and HTC among the the brands in its line-up.
NBR staff
Mon, 11 Jul 2011
Mon, 11 Jul 2011
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More market share blues for BlackBerry
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