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The Race for Third Place: It’s Not Android or iOS, But, Windows Phone That BlackBerry 10 is Competing With

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The Roman Empire was not built in a day.

The same can be said for Research in Motion when it was on top, Apple and iOS when the iPhone reached number one, and, Android now that it is top dog.  It took years for each of these platforms to best their competition and become the number one selling smartphone operating system.

I know that there is a lot of excitement and anticipation surrounding the release of BlackBerry 10 in Q1 next year, however, I have to admit that I am hearing some pretty lofty goals from die-hard BlackBerry fans that, even if BlackBerry 10 is to Android and iOS what Android and iOS are to the current BlackBerry OS, simply have no chance of coming true…

To make it plain, BlackBerry 10 will not take out iOS, Android, or Windows Phone no matter how good it is.  BlackBerry 10 has no shot at besting the iPhone or Android and will have it’s hands full competing with Windows Phone for 3rd place.

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U.S. Government Agency, the NOAA, Drops BlackBerry for iPhone and iPad

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The list of companies and organizations that you would think would be a haven for BlackBerry devices, but, are actually moving in different direction is getting longer.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency within the United States Department of Commerce, is dropping support for the BlackBerry in favor of the iPhone and the iPad.

In a memo dated Feb. 3rd, Joseph F. Klimavicz, NOAA Chief Information Officer and Director for High Performance Computing and Communications, said that the BlackBerry will continue to be supported through May 12th, but, the NOAA will move forward with support of iPhone 4 or higher and iPad 2 or higher devices running iOS 5 or later.

[Via The Loop]

Halliburton Drops BlackBerry for the iPhone

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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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iPass study claims that the iPhone has surpassed the BlackBerry in the workplace…

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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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Only 4% of consumers in the market for a new smartphone plan to buy a BlackBerry

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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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It’s Official… iPhone 4 Head To Verizon Feb. 10th

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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?

BlackBerry Moves To Number 2 On The Vitrue 100 Brands Of 2010

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Even though the BlackBerry smartphone has steadily lost market share to its competitors in 2010 BlackBerry brand awareness has grown stronger according to the third annual Vitrue 100 which annually ranks the most social brands by analyzing online conversations on a daily basis across social networks blogs, micro-blogs, photo and video sharing sites using the Vitrue Social Media Index (SMI).

The BlackBerry brand ranks number 2 moving up 13 spots from last years ranking in the consumer electronics category and also ranks number 2 overall following the iPhone which has ranked number 1 in all three years of the survey.

[Source]

Will Research In Motion Make Any Significant Announcements At CES?

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For those of you not aware, CES, the biggest consumer electronics show of the year, starts Thursday with a bunch of announcements likely coming tomorrow, and, the big question for me is ” What will Research in Motion have to say?”  We know that the BlackBerry PlayBook is coming and that QNX will eventually power a BlackBerry device, however, I’d like to know what else Research in Motion has coming down the pipe, namely in the way of BlackBerry devices.

It’s been 6 months since RIM has released a high-end CMDA BlackBerry and Verizon BlackBerry Storm and Storm2 users especially, with no BlackBerry Storm3 or other Touchscreen device in sight, have seemingly been left out in the cold.  This could be the perfect opportunity for RIM to announce a new CDMA BlackBerry with a touch screen, even if it only runs BlackBerry 6.

There are rumors that Apple may officially announce the Verizon iPhone this week,and, if there is no good news on the BlackBerry front coming out RIM, the BlackBerry platform may see many more BlackBerry users switching platforms compared to those that a going to switch regardless of what RIM has to say…

Let’s hope that RIM has good new for us this week

Both Apple And RIM Soon To Be Overtaken By Android In U.S. Smartphone Market Share

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It’s been just over a month since the iPhone overtook the BlackBerry in total U.S. market share and as we begin 2011, Apple still is in the top spot.  This may not be the case for to long, however, because Android is poised to overtake RIM and Apple with the ridiculous growth that the platform is experiencing.

According to November 2010 data, Apple holds 28.6 percent of the U.S. smartphone market up slightly from 27.9 percent in October. Meanwhile, BlackBerry OS slipped again in November to 26.1 percent, down from 27.4 percent in October and 33.9 percent in June. Android OS closed the distance on Apple and RIM reaching 25.8 percent in November, compared to 22.7 percent in October and 15 percent in June.

It’s pretty clear that Android will over take RIM relatively soon.  This would probably be true for Apple as well if it weren’t for the the fact that the iPhone is soon coming to Verizon.  My gut tells me that the Verizon iPhone will become the fast selling smartphone ever and will probably hold of Android for a bit longer, while increasing the speed of the BlackBerry’s decline as the churn of current Verizon BlackBerry users that switch to the iPhone will probably be at all time high levels.

[Via Gigaom]

Consumer Reports — AT&T Is The Worst Wireless Carrier In United States… By Far

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Consumer Reports has released findings from a member survey which, as we’ve been saying for years, ranks AT&T as the worst wireless provider in the country when it comes to voice, value, and data performance.  AT&T scored the lowest possible score in 8 of 9 total categories, only scoring the second to the worst score in texting.

Consumer Reports isn’t as popular as it once was, however, quite a few still value their opinion highly…  AT&T is just hoping that most of their customers are don’t…

We take this seriously and we continually look for new ways to improve the customer experience. The fact is wireless customers have choices and a record number of them chose AT&T in the third quarter, significantly more than our competitors. Hard data from independent drive tests confirms AT&T has the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network with our nearest competitor 20 percent slower on average nationwide and our largest competitor 60 percent slower on average nationwide.  And, our dropped call rate is within 1/10 of a percent – the equivalent of just one call in a thousand – of the industry leader.

The fact that AT&T can be rated this low, but, be the sole carrier of the highest rated device says a heck of a lot about the iPhone.  My guess is that carrier churn from iPhone users switching from AT&T over to Verizon once Verizon gets the iPhone will be unprecedented.

[Source]