It seems like every time Research in Motion takes half a step forward something comes along to knock them a full step back. In this week’s edition of What Else Can Go Wrong for RIM, energy services company Halliburton has announced plans to drop support for BlackBerry in favor of the iPhone.
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With all of the trouble Research in Motion has been going through over the last two years, the one area that the company has been able to hang their hat was in the corporate mobile workforce. The latest iPass Global Mobile Workforce Report , however, shows that the BlackBerry no longer reigns as the top smartphone used by business users and that the iPhone is now king of the hill.
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According to the results from a recent ChangeWave survey on Mobile Operating System Preferences of mostly North American respondents, the BlackBerry has hit its lowest level ever with just 4%of consumers planing to get a new smartphone within the next 90 days preferring to get a BlackBerry. Comparatively speaking, 48% of respondents planning to get a new smartphone in the next 90 days said they prefer to get an iPhone.
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comScore released its March 2011 report on mobile subscriber market share last Friday, and, when it comes to the the smartphone category, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry continues to lose subscribers at an alarming rate dropping 4.5%, now sitting at 27.1%, in the 3 month avg. ending Mar. 2011 vs. 3 month avg. ending Dec. 2010.
The BlackBerry has slipped to number 2 behind Android who jumped up 6% to 34.7% U.S. share. The BlackBerry is still in front of the iPhone which had just a .5% increase in share now sitting at 25.5%. If the BlackBerry, however, continues the free-fall that it has been on for the better part of the last 18 months, it will slip to number 3 by the time the next comScore report comes out. Rounding out the smartphone category where Microsoft and Palm who both lost 0.9% market share dropping to 7.5% and 2.8% respectively…
[Via comScore]
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Over the weekend I read an interesting article over on the NYT online where Research in Motion founder and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis gave an interview and seemed to go on a bit of a rant asking the following series of questions…
“Why is it that people don’t appreciate our profits? Why is it that people don’t appreciate our growth? Why is it that people don’t appreciate the fact that we spent the last four years going global? Why is it that people don’t appreciate that we have 500 carriers in 170 countries with products in almost 30 languages?”
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Over the weekend cross platform mobile IM client LiveProfile was released for the BlackBerry. LiveProfile for BlackBerry is an application similar to BlackBerry Messenger in that it shows you when your messages have been delivered, read, and even when contacts are typing a message back to you. The really cool thing, is that it is cross platform meaning that you can chat with contacts that use devices other than BlackBerry, currently Android and iOS.
LiveProfile for BlackBerry is currently in beta, and, has already received one update, since being released just last Friday. Live Profile had to do an emergency upgrade of their servers because of the ridiculous number of downloads that Live Profile is receiving… Over 277,000 in a single day and Live Profile is now the number 4 free download in the social networking category in the Apple App Store. I suspect you will see similar results BlackBerry App World once the LiveProfile for BlackBerry is hosted there.
If you really like BlackBerry Messenger, but, have friends that you can’t BBM with because the have an Android device or an iPhone, I suggest you take a look at Live Profile for BlackBerry. You can download it from http://liveprofile.com/get. If you are on iOS or Android, you can pick up Live Profile for your device via your respective app store…
Download LiveProfile for BlackBerry from http://liveprofile.com/get
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Unless you’ve been buried under a rock, you, know that Verizon now offers the iPhone 4 on their CDMA network. This has been something that millions of Verizon customers, many of them BlackBerry users, have been waiting for since the original iPhone was released on AT&T back in 2007. Several former BlackBerry users that I know personally have recently made the switch from the BlackBerry to the iPhone, however, at least one of them, after just one day, is ready to switch back.
One of my co-workers who ordered their iPhone just after 3:00 a.m. the day that it went on sale to existing Verizon customers, got their device via UPS yesterday morning. Barely 24 hours later, this, BlackBerry defector that was particularly vocal about switching off of their BlackBerry and over to the iPhone, says that they already know that they want to switch back.
“Don’t get me wrong, this thing is way better than the BlackBerry at playing games and stuff, but, the iPhone 4 is basically just like an iPod Touch that you can make calls from and do GPS stuff that I won’t really do anyway. I knew that I would be sacrificing BBM, but, it really isn’t worth it because there isn’t really much new stuff that I want to put on the iPhone that I don’t already have on my iPod Touch, plus it has 1/4 the space… I know that I’ve only had my iPhone for 1 day, but, I think that I am switching back to my BlackBerry… “
There is no doubt that the iPhone 4 is an incredible device, however, there are things that you can do on a BlackBerry that no other platform offers. Before you jump ship, really think about how you use your BlackBerry and what you will have to give up for the benefits of the iPhone 4 that you may gain…
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According to a survey from market research firm uSamp, 2 out of 3 Verizon BlackBerry users plan to switch to the Verizon iPhone. That is a whopping 66% of the over 700 respondents that took part in the survey. When we asked Verizon BlackBerry users if they were going to switch to the Verizon iPhone 4 when the device was made available (briefly) for pre-order, the overwhelming majority of those that left comments said that they were switching. This simply cannot be good for RIM…
As I’ve said before, I believe that many more people will say they are going to switch than those that actually will, but, even if you take this uSamp survey and the comments section on a BlackBerry blog with a grain of salt, RIM stands to lose a ridiculous number of BlackBerry users to churn…
I know that Verizon is just one carrier in one country, but, a significant number of all BlackBerry users are Verizon subscribers, and those numbers are in jeopardy. A lot of folks say that RIM is going down the path of Palm, but, RIM is still very strong overseas. So strong in fact that I think that a better analogy for RIM is that they are going down the path of Nokia. That, however is for another post…
I think that it is clear that, not only because of of iPhone 4, but, all the Verizon Android devices as well, it will be a tough year for RIM. Too many consumers in the U.S. think BlackBerry devices just aren’t as appealing as the higher end smartphones. Whether this is actually true or not (personally I believe that it is), the perception is there, not only on existing BlackBerry devices, but, those on the road map to come out later this year.
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Update: We just heard via a Verizon spokesperson that the Verizon iPhone will not come in white…
This should come as no secret to those that read blogs about cell phones… Verizon has officially announced the iPhone 4 and that it will be available starting Feb. 10th. The Verizon iPhone 4 will come in both white and black, starts at $199.99 for the 16 GB model, and, unlike AT&T, will support Wi-Fi tethering.
A lot of Verizon BlackBerry users have been saying that they are going to switch to the iPhone as soon as it comes out. Now that it is here are you sticking to your guns and making the move?
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