Apple’s iPhone took 19.2% of the US market for smart phones in the first quarter of 2008, according to research firm IDC.
That was down from 26.7% of smart phones sold in the fourth quarter of last year, which included the holiday shopping season, IDC, quoted by an Associated Press report, also said.
Much of the slack was picked up by Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, which took 35.1% of the market in the fourth quarter and then 44.5% in the first.
The report further quoted IDC analyst Ramon Llamas as saying the BlackBerry is now strong in the “prosumer” segment, as RIM has successfully widened the appeal of the device beyond the professionals who have been its core customer group.
IDC did not reveal the total number of smart phones sold in the quarter.
Apple said it sold 1.7 million iPhones in the first quarter, including overseas sales.
Palm, a pioneer in the category along with RIM, also picked up market share in the first quarter, when it grabbed 13.4% of smart phone sales, up from 7.9% in the fourth quarter, IDC said.
No. 4 in market share in the most recent quarter was Samsung Electronics, with 8.6%, up from 5.1% in the fourth quarter, a rise Llamas credited to the availability of the BlackJack on Verizon Wireless.
Motorola, which is struggling in the overall mobile phone market, did poorly in smart phones as well, dropping from a 7.5% share in the fourth quarter to 2.6% in the first, the Associated Press report said.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Research In Motion (RIM) has launched its BlackBerry wireless solution to customers of mobile operator Telenor in Serbia.
RIM said Telenor is offering the BlackBerry Curve 8310 and BlackBerry 8820 smartphones at launch, with both offering push-based wireless access to email, phone, browser, organiser, SMS, MMS, Instant Messaging support, built-in GPS, and advanced media player for music and video.
In addition, the 8310 and 8820 include support for corporate data access.
The BlackBerry Curve 8310 offers a two megapixel camera, advanced media player and will be available in a silver colour finish.
The BlackBerry 8820 includes built-in Wi-Fi, supports the 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi standards and is compliant with Wi-Fi security protocols such as WEP, WPA and WPA2, along with Cisco Compatible Extensions and includes IPSec-based software supporting commonly deployed VPN gateways.
Telenor is offering BlackBerry Enterprise Server for corporate customers and BlackBerry Internet Service for smaller businesses and individual users.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Toronto-based Puretracks, a leading North American digital music provider that partners with Universal, Sony BMG, Warner, EMI, and independent labels worldwide, has developed a new DRM-free mobile music store and service for BlackBerry® smartphones from Research In Motion (RIM).
The Puretracks Mobile Edition music store for BlackBerry, built in conjunction with handset development partner Magnet Mobile Media, will work with all BlackBerry® Pearl™, BlackBerry® Curve™ and BlackBerry® 8800 series smartphones. It is a next-evolution digital music service developed exclusively for wireless handsets using compressed DRM-free AAC/AAC+ file formats. This high-quality digital format is only half the size of MP3 files, significantly reducing the download time and storage capacity required while maintaining CD quality sound. The DRM-free service will make it easy for users to download and play songs on their BlackBerry smartphones.
“When it comes to the wireless world, BlackBerry is at the forefront and we are excited to offer our service on a cutting-edge solution that seamlessly integrates digital music into the wireless space,” notes Andrea Ziegler, Chief Operating Officer of Puretracks. “The Puretracks Mobile music service we have developed for the BlackBerry platform is an innovative mobile music store for North America that employs DRM-free, 64 kb AAC/AAC+ files. For wireless users, this equates to inexpensive airtime costs, smaller storage requirements, and higher music quality.”
A sneak peek of the Puretracks Mobile Edition music service for BlackBerry will be unveiled March 12 at the South By Southwest (SXSW) event in Austin, Texas. A full version of the mobile music service will launch at CTIA Wireless April 1. The new mobile music store, which will debut in the United States with future roll-out plans slated for Canada and other markets, will feature a broad selection of songs from top mainstream and independent artists. Future additions to the Puretracks Mobile Edition music service will include support for Wi-Fi capable handsets, enabling BlackBerry smartphone users to download MP3 files over Wi-Fi connections.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Worldwide handset sales increased 16% to 1.153 billion units in 2007, driven by rising demand in emerging markets, says Gartner.
Nokia, the biggest phone vendor, increased its market share to 37.8%, up from three percentage points from a year earlier. In a disastrous last quarter, Motorola fell nearly ten points to 11.9% over the previous year.
Strong sales in China and India lifted Chinese handset supplier ZTE into top ten for the first time with a 1.2% market share. But the popularity of high-end BlackBerry and iPhone devices also put smartphone vendors RIM and Apple in the top ten. Taiwan’s BenQ, France’s Sagem and China-based Bird were the three displaced from the top group.
Gartner predicted growth to decline to 10% in 2008, with western Europe and North America contributing to just 30% of sales.
Gartner mobile devices research director Carolina Milanes said the strength of emerging market demand meant that handset sales were likely to be “relatively immune to a recession” in the US and western Europe.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- December 19th, 2007
- 7:15 am
Oman Mobile, the wireless arm of incumbent telco Omantel, and handset developer Research In Motion (RIM), have jointly announced the launch of the BlackBerry device in the sultanate with Emitac Mobile Solutions, a partner of RIM in the Middle East. Oman Mobile’s corporate customers will now be able to enjoy features such as wireless access to e-mail, phone, text messaging, internet access, personal organiser and other mobile data applications on a single handset. In addition, Oman Mobile is offering the ‘BlackBerry Internet Service’ for individuals and smaller businesses, enabling users to access up to ten personal email accounts (including most webmail accounts) from their Blackberry device. Models immediately available include the BlackBerry 8800, the BlackBerry 8700g and the BlackBerry Pearl.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- November 6th, 2007
- 1:19 pm
Research In Motion has launched its BlackBerry Professional Software, a communications and collaboration service for SMBs that integrates with e-mail servers. BlackBerry Professional Software is based on the functionality of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server software for smaller organisations with up to 30 mobile users. BlackBerry Professional Software enables SMBs to enhance communications and collaboration with an enterprise-grade mobility service allowing mobile access to e-mail, organiser, internet and intranet applications with advanced security. BlackBerry Professional Software is priced at USD 499 for five users and USD 849 for 10 users.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- October 18th, 2007
- 2:55 pm
MTS Ukraine (formerly UMC) has launched BlackBerry mobile secure e-mail devices for its corporate customers, in partnership with Canadian developer Research in Motion (RIM) and Alcatel-Lucent. Service activation for up to 20 users costs around USD8,300 with monthly fees of USD60 per user. Ukrainian businesses already use BlackBerry devices, but only in roaming mode via subscriptions to foreign mobile operators. Russian parent company MTS planned to launch the BlackBerry in Russia in 2005, but the service is still not available there because it failed to reach an agreement with RIM on security issues. According to Russian legislation, state agencies must be able to monitor all communication services.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- October 5th, 2007
- 12:28 pm
Research In Motion (RIM) reported revenues for the fiscal second quarter to 1 September of USD 1.37 billion, up 108 percent from the previous year’s quarter. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 78 percent for devices, 15 percent for services, 4 percent for software and 3 percent for other revenue. Its net income was USD 287.7 million, up 105 percent from the year-earlier quarter. The company had cash of USD 1.73 billion at 1 September. Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 ending 1 December is expected to be in the range of USD 1.60-1.67 billion. Subscriber account additions in the third quarter are expected to be approximately 1.65 million, versus 1.45 million in the second quarter.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- September 14th, 2007
- 7:31 am
Indian telecom company Reliance Infocomm this week announced it is launching services for BlackBerry devices in 16 cities across the country.
Reliance is offering Bloomberg services, online trading capabilities and video streaming. The services additionally will include PowerPoint presentations and integration with office networks.
The Bloomberg services, will enable BlackBerry users to send e-mail and instant messages as well as view customized data, news, analysis, charts, monitors and market updates.
Reliance, the report said, will be delivering these services to 8830 World Edition BlackBerry and other RIM devices. Individual subscribers will pay Rs 1,099 per month; enterprise customers will have access for Rs 699 per month.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- September 14th, 2007
- 6:37 am
An anonymous reader writes to tell us that following in the wake of their patent suit against Research in Motion (RIM), NTP has filed suit against Verizon, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile for infringing on several patents. All of the patents in question relate to the delivery of email on mobile devices.
“Five of the eight patents being used in the telco cases were the subject of NTP’s 2001 patent suit against Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry. In November 2002, a jury found that RIM infringed upon NTP’s patents. The case continued to make headlines until 2006, when RIM agreed to pay NTP a settlement of $612.5 million, nearly four years after RIM had first been found guilty of infringing on NTP’s patents.”
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
iPhone takes 19% of US smart phone market
