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ITG Investment Research has a rather interesting report on Verizon’s recent Blackberry sales — they’ve dropped off by 45 percent over the last year. It’s forecasted to get worse by the end of this quarter, rising to a 49 percent drop off. Put another way, Blackberry once accounted for 90 percent of VZW’s phone sales. They now make up only 20 percent. If you have any question as to why, ket me just remind you of a certain mobile platform that landed on Verizon just a little over a year ago, the same point in time that BB started its rapid decline: Android.
Since the Motorola Droid (and the HTC Droid Eris) first arrived on the scene, there has been no shortage of Droid-themed advertising. Even their non-Droid branded Android devices like the Samsung Fascinate have seen heavy rotation. Meanwhile, Blackberry ads have dropped off, or at least seemed less memorable. At the moment, Verizon’s entire devotion seems to be Android and the Droid lineup.
It will be interesting to see how these figures could change with new 4G handsets from RIM, Android, and the possibility of the iPhone landing on Big Red. But if the latter happens, things look especially grim for smartphone platform that still holds a strong (and according to some reports, the strongest) share of the mobile market.
[via IntoMobile]
Blackberry sales is still going strong here in the United Arab Emirates (AKA the land that almost banned Blackberries). Even if you see a guy with an iPhone in his hand, he has a blackberry in his other hand. Why? Blackberry Messenger. It’s kind of like the Facebook of chat. Boring, dull, and no one wants it, yet everyone is actively using it to stay connected with friends and families.
And don’t bother showing them alternatives like whatsapp.
I am sooo NOT SURPRISED. I could not wait to dump my last Blackberry and switch to my current Android device (Dinc). My Blackberry was a piece of garbage. Good riddance, Blackberry.
I had a pearl, a curve, and a storm with the curve being the best of those three. When I bought the moto droid I realized phones actually can do what I wanted them to far beyond what rim claimed or provided. There is no question rim lost that ground without a fight. Android does so much more in so many more form factors that it just makes sense. I have since then bought a droid x and love it so much more than anything rim could provide.
I agree completly with milkbandit.
Let me see, I wonder when the Moto Droid was released..
Agree with milkbandit. Storm was worst phone in history. Browbeat big red into droid og. Now have dx. Beats blackberry hands down.
Blackberry phones gave suits a reason to spend a lot on a good production phone that was fun and people who couldnt get the iPhone. Now…Android fills both gaps with unparalleled growth! BB just cant keep up. Ugly phones and dumb keyboards are so 2008!
Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. Google did just that.
Blackberry’s are so much slower and uglier than android phones. it makes it so much easier to do things on an android phone compared to a blackberry. Maybe they will change and start making phones that compare to other top of the line phones. And not another storm what a POS that was oh how i hated that phone
Getting rid of my curve in feb. when my contract is up, hello android!
“Blackberry once accounted for 90 percent of VZW’s phone sales.”
Wrong, it was 90% of “smartphones” sales, this is an important distinction.
In any, Blackberry has the luxury of some vendor lock-in in large companies that are slow to adopt new technology, or change vendors. If it wasn’t for that fact they might be on deaths door right now. With many companies starting to consider to support(internally)iPhones and Android phones I would not want to be a RIM shareholder, its hard to imagine their market share going anywhere but down.
MonkeyBacon is right. I work for a large defense contractor and it’s Blackberry all the way, thanks in part to the unparalleled security the platform provides. I have a Storm for work…and it sucks. Outside of enterprise mail, it’s useless as a smartphone. My personal device is a Droid Incredible and Blackberry seems a generation behind Android. Still, I don’t mind my Blackberry simply as a work phone to check work email and calendar events. This will always be their bread and butter, but they’ve completely lost the soccer mom crowd.
Simple solution for a Blackberry resurection:
World’s 1st AndroidBerry!!
iphone to verizon: probably a shift of AT&T iphone customers to verizon.. good for verizon nothing for apple so probably apple will not make the move to verizon..
ff