RIM claws back smartphone market

RESEARCH IN MOTION, maker of the Blackberry, had more than half the US smartphone market in the second quarter of 2008 rising from first-quarter levels.

According to Ryan Reith, a senior research analyst at IDC, RIM's strong showing was thanks to the recent release of the Curve and Pearl handsets. The gizmos were flogged by the Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless networks.

Bean counters at IDC said that Apple and Palm both lost market share in the second three months of the year. To be fair to Apple, this was because it drained its inventory of 2G phones prior to the launch of its 3G version of the Holy Handset of Cupertino. The Iphone 3G will appear in the next set of statistics, which should set the cat amongst the pigeons.

The big loser appears to be Palm which saw its market share fall to 10.8 percent in the second quarter, from 13.4 percent in the first. µ

L'Inq
AP