What does it mean for RIM? The new BlackBerry 6 platform, which is expected to be unveiled at an event tomorrow in New York, had better be VERY good.
RIM led the U.S. smartphone market for a long time based on its strong brand and distribution across all major carriers. But RIM has totally dropped the ball when it comes to evolving and improving its platform: It missed the boat on touch phones, its app platform and web browsers have been terrible so far, and the main reason that it’s still selling so many BlackBerry devices in the U.S. are super-cheap deals and buy-one, get-one-free offers. If BlackBerry 6 isn’t a huge improvement, RIM could wind up stuck at the low-margin, low-end of the smartphone market —not where it wants to be.
It depends, Apple’s goal may be margin and profit, and not just volume. The two are not synonymous. It would also be consistent with Apple’s history. They may have entry level items, but Apple products, going back to the Apple II, have never been “Economy” models.
Count two more Android sales to me because Apple stuck with AT&T.
Of course that illustrates that some aren’t buying Android because they like it more, but because they like their own carrier more than AT&T. Dropping AT&T exclusivity should have been the “And one more thing...” at the iPhone 4 launch. I’d have held off on my Android purchases if I could have been sure that was coming.
For the love of all that is Holy and the reasoning of mankind!! Is there not one reporter in this world who understands this plain and simple situation?
I will spell it out in short bullet points. Pay attention!
Apple invented the modern touch smartphone. And because Apple was not a phone maker but a PC maker, Verizon, which was offered first dibs, passed on it.
Apple knew this idea would be gold and totally change everything in the phone world, but they needed a partner to prove it. Any partner. ALL of the phone providers laughed, and passed. Except for little cut rate Cingular. They took the chance but demanded a 5 year exclusive to the deal. Apple's choice was take it or leave it.
ATT got wind of this deal, saw the prototype and bought out, merged or otherwise took over and Cingular vanished. Verizon still laughed. Sprint shook their heads. Nokia, RIM, even Palm covered their eyes and "couldn't watch the train wreck".
Apple suddenly leaped to the top of the market. MILLIONS were sold and ATT was riding the wave to glory. Verizon came begging, but Apple had been locked in. They could NOT let Verizon have a phone if their very company depended on it.
Verizon shopped around looking for a maker who could challenge the iPhone. Enter Google. Flush with their dotcom cash, they jumped in. Palm and Sprint joined together for the 3rd combo.
Verizon IS bigger than ATT or Sprint. And everyone knows the gig is up this fall. Verizon loves android, but will ALSO love iPhone and then, when the playing field is again equal, we will see that the iPhone regains its dominance.
Droid is a plastic clunky, virus ridden bloatware of a phone with a tiny fuzzy screen. But it is ALL else their is. If you are on Verizon, you CAN'T HAVE the best, so you have to settle.
So, these little articles which purport that they know what can help Apple, that they need Verizon, is like telling conservatives they need to get rid of Obama, Pelosi and Reid. HELLO????
DUH. We are working on all of the above as fast as possible, but thanks for the newsflash!
Still can’t sync my Outlook contacts to my Droid. Only thing that syncs is the calendar. That’s it. Only way it seems to work well is if you are working with an exchange server.
I thought that the iPhone 3G was a decent piece of tech, but that the AT&T service was seriously lacking.
Still miss my Blackberry.
The iPhone 3 was still selling. Plus iPhone 4 has had serious loss of signal issues anyways. Plus, Motorola's hot sellig Android X didn't launch till the very end of the quarter as well, and that never stopped Android phones from blowng the doors off the hinges did it?
In any case, I posted a few months back in another thread that Androids will take the lead by a year's time. Seems to have happened even faster than I expected.
and Q3 should be bigger for Apple
Q3 will be bigger for Android's too, with all the hot new Androids that just launched (and more to come), like Moto’s hot new Android X and Samsung’s Galaxy.
Looks like he still is not very teachable and will quickly fall flat on his face a second time.
People just don't like being gouged, overcharged or forced to buy a product. The moment a better product that offers a better bargain or choices comes along, consumers quickly vote with their feet.
“Apple must sell the iPhone at Verizon Wireless....”
Absolutely. I would own an iPhone today if they had. Instead, I am now committed to my new Droid X.... so far, I like it.
AT&T reported they activated 3.2 million iPhone 4 units in the 2nd Quarter of 2010. ONE company accounts for 1/5th of the smart phones sold in the US... And claims the entire lion's share of the profits. The Android makers are busy giving away phones.
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This is one of those times I disagree with Apple’s strategy (and I know there are some technical reasons for it, but still.) You can buy Android phones from several carriers not just AwfulT&T. So it is understandable that they would gain market share. I’ve had Palm Treo and Blackberry, based on the dictates of my company. I now have the HTC Hero (substantially better than either of those two) and would have an iPhone except for being locked in to Sprint for a while.
I think Android slates are going to be a big deal.