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TechSpot RSSMobile Computing
Storm fails to make impact on iPhone sales
For as sleek as the BlackBerry Storm looks and as potent of a smartphone as it is, apparently the device is failing to erode any of the iPhone’s market share. Despite it marking an obvious shift in strategy by RIM and trying to show that the company has what it takes to appeal to the consumer market, Apple's sales for the iPhone along with its market share have continued to increase. BlackBerry, on the other hand, has remained relatively steady, changing only a few percentage points over the past year.
What further compounds the issue is that a survey of smartphone users discovered that Storm owners are overall not as happy with their new device as new iPhone owners were. Perhaps some of the issues are related to the arguably botched launch of the phone. On top of having a rather lackluster entrance, with no real “launch party” or big promo events, the phone was criticized after launch due to various flaws. Verizon and RIM did ultimately release a firmware update that fixed many of those initial flaws.
Apple may still have cause for alarm in the near future, however. RIM holds a substantial portion of the smartphone market and unlike Apple has a plethora of different models available, ranging from low cost to high end, across multiple different service providers. They also still have Apple one-upped on business appeal. In the meantime, however, the Storm has failed to cause any dent in the iPhone's sales and probably doesn't have Apple worried.
What further compounds the issue is that a survey of smartphone users discovered that Storm owners are overall not as happy with their new device as new iPhone owners were. Perhaps some of the issues are related to the arguably botched launch of the phone. On top of having a rather lackluster entrance, with no real “launch party” or big promo events, the phone was criticized after launch due to various flaws. Verizon and RIM did ultimately release a firmware update that fixed many of those initial flaws.
Apple may still have cause for alarm in the near future, however. RIM holds a substantial portion of the smartphone market and unlike Apple has a plethora of different models available, ranging from low cost to high end, across multiple different service providers. They also still have Apple one-upped on business appeal. In the meantime, however, the Storm has failed to cause any dent in the iPhone's sales and probably doesn't have Apple worried.
User Comments (5)
Post a comment| DarkCobra on December 24, 2008 9:39 PM | I think this begs the question . . . Was RIM "really" trying
to replace the iPhone? I tend to think not so fast here on
that assumption. I do think they are trying to enter the
realm of touch screens so they can ALSO be players in the
game. But I doubt they were seriously trying to replace
the IPhone. If that was their goal then they indeed
failed badly. In fairness this was their first time out of the gate with a touch screen and clearly they're learning as they go. If you recall the original IPhone was initially a mess of issues as well. It took not only the second generation IPhone to start resolving things, but a serious firmware upgrade (2.2) to that version to continue with the fixes and there STILL remains serious issues (battery life & ability to replace a battery, cut & paste, video messaging, etc.). Still, I think the IPhone is safe and a most excellent product. Both RIM and Apple still have work to do!
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| PanicX on December 27, 2008 1:18 PM | They also still have Apple one-upped on business
appeal. Is this supposed to be obvious? I can't
think of where they're still one up. I mean, is it really
appealing for businesses to pay $4000 for server side
software to enable email push functions? I can't seem to convince any of my clients that it is.
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| DarkCobra on December 28, 2008 9:57 PM | A good point you raise. Actually though, quite a few
businesses feel that kind of investment is valuable to them.
Information sharing quite often hinges on the timeliness
of that data stream getting out. Being able to "push" that
information out to sometimes hundreds if not thousands of
individuals AT THE SAME TIME can make a big difference in
those individuals being able to act in unison or at least in
a timely manner on that information. The "pull" method
too often results in each individual retrieving that
information at widely varying times, which can put the
company at a disadvantage. In that regard RIM does retain a distinct business advantage. Whether the hardware investment needed to do this is worth it is a valid concern and you are correct to raise it. Many companies feel it's worth it and many others will not.
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| phlip79 on December 29, 2008 3:06 AM | Originally posted by DarkCobra: I think
this begs the question . . . Was RIM "really" trying to
replace the iPhone? I tend to think not so fast here on
that assumption. I do think they are trying to enter the
realm of touch screens so they can ALSO be players in the
game. But I doubt they were seriously trying to replace
the IPhone. If that was their goal then they indeed
failed badly. Just keep in mind that a great
deal of their advertising actually involved direct
comparisons to the iPhone. The ones I'm most familiar with
had them giving the phone to pedestrians who went on to say
that they should have waited before buying an
iPhone.RIM makes great phones. I think they are clearly after the consumer market that iPhone has a firm grasp on. This isn't evident only in the touchscreen, but their flip phone and their marketing of the bold as well.
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| DarkCobra on December 29, 2008 3:48 AM | You make several very valid points. I just think that if
they were seriously trying to copy the Iphone . . . man did
they blow it! I mean it ain't even close! I think
there's going to be a natural tendency now to presume that
anyone now releasing a touch screen phone is automatically
trying to make an Iphone. A perfect example of this is the
one you just cited with the guy on the street who instantly
leaped to the conclusion that this was an Iphone wanna-be
when in reality I think all RIM wanted to do was modernize
with a touch screen. Did they want a piece of Iphones'
market? Sure. You are correct on that for
sure. But I think you're right. It's not going to so much be what RIM was trying to issue but what the public perceives this device to be. I do think that part of the problem is a lot of the so-called expert phone BLOGS themselves which have unfairly compared so many other new phones to the Iphone, thus almost dooming them to be looked upon as failures that came up short. Is this fair? Nope. Is this the nature of the beast today? Yup. [Edited by DarkCobra on 2008-12-29 03:54:15]
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