RIM Adds 3.8 Million Subscribers Last Quarter- Not Afraid of iPhone
Research in Motion (RIM) CEO Jim Balsillie said in a financial conference call that the firm added almost 4 million new BlackBerry users to the fold last quarter, showing that strong demand for their phones is surviving the entry of new phones to the market.
When asked if RIM was concerned about Apple dropping the price of the older iPhone 3G to $99 he shrugged it off. RIM “had lots of offers for the BlackBerry that have been free and $49 and $99…so I don’t really fret those kinds of things.” The BlackBerry maker expects to add another 4 million subscribers in the current quarter, fueled by the increasing product line containing new phones such as the Tour (shown at right).
Balsillie went on to add that RIM’s smartphone market share last quarter of 55 percent is a good feat. That market share is even more impressive when you consider that it’s comprised of 80 percent consumers rather than enterprises, a big shift for the BlackBerry that shows how successful RIM has been at addressing the new market.
(via Gearlog)
RIM do seem to have done quite well in the consumer market recently and I’m frequently surprised by the types of people that I see with Blackberries these days. It used to just be businessmen who were obviously using them for work but now it’s anyone: kids, mothers, blue-collar workers, etc.
If Apple were *really* competing with RIM they’d have phones with every carrier in the US, they’d have with both touchscreens and with keyboards, they’d have miniature or flip phones, etc…
Apple is not competing with RIM.
they’re really diluting their products with all these phones that look the exact same.
Of course RIM (at least through Verizon) did offer, in a way, a $99 phone. It was the buy one, get one free deal (for example, buy a Storm at $199, get the second one free) that bumped RIM’s numbers as much as anything. As I’ve said before, the Storm doesn’t stack up favorably against the iPod Touch (and I have both)in terms of interface. I don’t know how it would do against the iPhone but if Apple and ATT didn’t have an exclusive, I have to believe that Apple would be the winner while ATT and RIM would lose share.