iPhone outsells BlackBerry to become the third-largest mobile phone supplier
By Erna Mahyuni
Steve Jobs was personally on-hand when Apple announced it had sold another 11.05 million iPhones this quarter. That makes the total combined 6.9 million so far for the latest iPhone iteration.
All these numbers came out to play at Apple’s latest quarterly results conference call, according to iLounge. Said Jobs, “Apple just reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone—we sold more phones than RIM.” BlackBerry’s RIM supposedly only sold 6.1 million to the iPhone’s 6.9. Jobs also noted that measured by revenues, Apple was now the third-largest phone supplier after Nokia and Samsung. With the less than stellar buzz about Nokia’s latest Music Xpress phone and the somewhat muted reception to Samsung’s Omnia, these numbers will likely give its biggest competitors food for thought.
Apple outselling RIM comes as no surprise, really. While RIM targets business users, Apple’s pushing the iPhone as the All-Purpose Phone for the Everyman. Despite the device’s shortcomings, its mass-market appeal is undeniable. Some argue that a lot of that is just marketing savvy that blinds users to the phone’s weaknesses. What puzzles is that it took a computer maker to get mobile phone companies to finally shake off the interference of the mobile phone network operators, and actually build a phone dictated by perceived user needs.
Taking a look at the competition, Nokia and Samsung keep their numbers strong due to sheer diversification in range and obvious targeting of certain segments with specific models. Yet neither has managed to come up with a single model that can compete head-on with the iPhone in terms of appeal or functionality. Are the mobile phone companies running out of ideas? Will it take a search engine company to challenge the iPhone’s dominance and will Android do what the Symbian OS has failed to do? Early days yet but odds are that it just might take an upstart to challenge the former upstart.
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