I just took a look at Verizon sales metrics from ITG Investment Research analyst Matthew Goodman, and, to make a long story short, the numbers aren’t pretty for Research in Motion and the BlackBerry on the nation’s largest network. BlackBerry sales dropped 45 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of this year, and Goodman sees them trending down 49 percent YOY in the fourth.
80 percent of smartphone sales at Verizon in November were Android devices (46 percent of those were Droids). Which is astonishing for two reasons. 1.) That’s a huge percentage for a relatively new mobile OS in a very competitive market. 2.) In December of 2008, RIM was touting the BlackBerry as Verizon’s best-selling device. In two years, it’s gone from a flagship to a johnboat.
[Via AllThingsD]
It often seems like every wireless handset manufacture is either being sued by another handset manufacturer, suing another wireless handset manufacturer, or, sometimes, both. This was the case for Research in Motion and Motorola until they announced yesterday that they have entered into a Settlement and License Agreement which ends all outstanding worldwide litigation between the two companies.
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Rumors are floating around that a large round of layoffs is forthcoming at Motorola as plans to cut their handset division by as much as 50% could commence as early as this week.
Motorola is also not expected to have a booth at CITA, the wireless industries largest conference of the year.
[Via PhoneScoop]
(sarcasm)We know that last company that you would ever expect to be involved in a patent infringement lawsuit would be Research in Motion(/sarcasm), however, that is exactly what the BlackBerry maker is wrapped up in with Motorola.
Motorola is claiming that the way most BlackBerry 8xxx series devices store contact info in wireless emails and the ability to recognize incoming phone numbers infringes on their patents.
In a clever legal move often referred to as the “Whatever you can do we can also do“, RIM has filed their own claim against Motorola stating that the thumb keyboard is awfully similar to those found on BlackBerrys.