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RIM flogs 20 millionth Blackberry
DESPITE many Apple fans being convinced that their glorious iPhone will rule the world, RIM's blackberry is really knocking the stuffing out of it.
RIM has reported that it has shipped its 20 millionth device and now has 10-million subscribers.
In the next few months it will earn about $1.6 billion and $1.67 billion and add about 1.65 million new subscribers.
The question is, why is RIM doing so well when it does not have the marketing or the religious obsession of Apple fan boys backing it?
The answer is that that Apple failed to do its homework about who was using smart phones. It believed that consumers were really interested in the gizmos when it really was the corporates who were buying them instead.
So while Apple has been flogging its iPhones to the limited consumer market, it has left the ground clear for RIM to clean up in the more lucrative corporates.
Rather than stopping with the corporates, RIM is planning to move into Apple's markets IM co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie says that his outfit is looking to move into retail. Its research said that there is a strong demand for its multimedia-heavy BlackBerry Pearl smartphones. It is also looking at China as a good market to get into.
More here. µ
Tags: Apple
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The Blackberry is a very limited device compared to the IPhone. It can't view PDF, TIFF, XLS, DOC etc. files, which makes it pretty damn useless in a business setting - which is why I stopped using mine a month after the company got it for me. The IPhone can view these, and it can handle our Exchange based email system (I've tested one) which the Blackberry requires special software to do (more money).

Quite frankly having compared the two, my take is that RIM is in deep trouble, they just don't know it yet. Apple is going to take lots of sales from them, both personal and corporate (don't forget that RIM got it's start with personal sales too).

The Iphone is simply a better device based on my own testing. 
I can see why you would think it a mistake for Apple not to compete at the corporate level but I think you'll find it was intentional. the corporate world isn't won over by Apple's slick interfaces and nice design. They want cheap functional kit and that's not what Apple is about. If they were, they could have changed tack in any number of ways years ago. 

While the iPhone has its fair share of problems, targeting the wrong market is not one of them.
Look at the iPods market, is it that limited? Now take into account that iPod owners will likely to pick an iPhone for there next upgrade, and here we are! you found your ground!
I thought you guys were more objective than that.

The Blackberry was released in early 1999. This means they have been in business for about eight years and therefore sold 2.5 million Blackberries a year. That's a huge head start.

The iPhone has sold over 1 million iPhones in a quarter. That would be about four million in a year.

I think Blackberry is a fine product from a great company, and based on the numbers they are doing just fine. But I don't think they are crushing iPhone. I think iPhone has pioneered a distinct market, of phones designed with user interface and design at the forefront - consumer appeal as opposed to the corporate appeal of the Blackberry.

I think you are being less than honest by trying to compare 20 million sales over 8 years to 1 million sales over one quarter. Both companies make fine phones. I think Apple is going to enlarge the smartphone market more than it directly harms Blackberry and other companies, in a similar way to what happened with the iPod. iPod competitors are still selling, at similar volumes to their original levels. It's the mainstream iPod has taken over and I expect that with a few price drops, iPhone could do the same.

People do love iPhone. I don't see as much love for Blackberry, and forget Windows Mobile entirely. Users loving iPhone is a really, really powerful thing that I think many people focusing on feature comparisons miss.

We may be annoyed by Apple's third party application policies and other things, but nobody's managed to create anything with 1/10th the design appeal of iPhone. That tends to keep customers loyal.

D

I've been saying this since I read reviews stating that the iPhone is not up to par for actuall busines use. The bulk of smart phone buyers are people who actually USE them as tools and not toys. I'm buying an Archos for media... And I expect apples stock value to backlash. Expensive iPhones meeting UNIT sales goals due to price cuts... 999 dollar raid cards for their Mac Pros(High Point compatible rocket raid cards can be got for 150)... People will wake up to Apples game sooner or later, and their iPhone practices(bricked phones, locked ring tones, authentication chips for video cables) may be the call.