BlackBerry Sold 150 Million Phones In 12 Years, 15 Million Last Quarter
The real reason for RIM's eclipse is not the rise of Androids but their willingess to follow the iPhones & Androids into what I see as a dwindling market. The unemployed gamers, movie watchers, & web surfers who transformed the dominant smartphone demographic from business professional to slacker have already bought more phone than they can afford & can't afford to upgrade. Yet RIM insists on putting out yet another widescreen battery drain.
The new winner in the smartphone battle, if I read the market correctly, is the company who produces a worthy successor to the Treos & Curves. This will be a halfscreen phone w/ a full QWERTY keyboard, streamlined PDA functionality, & efficiency in anything else that enables the professional to get their work done w/out mobile tech frustrations. I do believe this will happen eventually -- and when it does that will be the marker of a true recovery, because that will mean enough professionals will have acquired new jobs w/ decent pay or sufficient raises to afford a decent, efficient smartphone.
