Iphone, Palm Pre are hurting Blackberry sales
By Michael W. Jones
It would appear as if the combination of the new iPhone 3GS and the new Palm Pre are beginning to seriously cut into the sales of Research In Motion’s Blackberry line of smart phones.
This news comes from financial analyst Michael Walkley of Piper Jaffray. Walkley had this to say in his analysis:
Our checks indicated BlackBerry sales declined in June at AT&T and Sprint due to increasing smartphone competition, as BlackBerry sales appeared to lose share to the Palm Pre at Sprint and the new 3GS iPhone and older $99 iPhone at AT&T. BlackBerry sales at T-Mobile remained solid, but Verizon sales were slightly weaker following the termination of the buy one, get one promotion.
It seems that the Pre is taking sales away from the popular Blackberry Curve model at Sprint. Similarly, the combination of the new iPhone 3GS and the $99 3G at AT&T are causing reductions in the sales of Blackberry phones at AT&T. According to a ZDNet story, Verizon has been pushing its LG line until the new Blackberry Tour is released. On this issue, Walkley says, “Sales of the Tour are key in our opinion, as our checks indicated RIM may need strong July and August sales to meet its guidance.”
There may be a reason for this. And that reason may be that, compared to the the iPhone and the Pre, the Blackberry line is relatively difficult to use and much less elegant than the competition. The word “clunky” comes to mind. These views come through in a Business Insider story, in which even the new RIM Tour falls short of the standards set by the iPhone and emulated by the Palm Pre.
It seems that even the new RIM Tour is thought to be hard to set up, and even harder to use. And, of course, when it comes to applications, the Apple App Store is the winner hands down over any of the smart phone competition. It is possible that RIM has rested too long on the business laurels of its Blackberry line, feeling somehow impervious to the competition. In the meantime, the competition has caught and passed it, relegating RIM to third place.
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