Despite the publicity and fanfare that surrounds every new update for the iPhone, and the popularity of the Apple iTunes App Store, market research firm NPD reports that RIM’s BlackBerry Curve was the bestselling smart phone in the US during the first quarter of 2009.
The reason for the BlackBerry Curve outselling Apple’s iPhone, it seems, is its competitive ‘buy-one-get-one’ marketing campaign.
NPD said that RIM’s share of the consumer smart phone market increased by 15pc to almost 50pc in Q1 of this year, in comparison to the same quarter in 2008.
Another change in the smart phone market over the past year is that both Apple’s and Palm’s market share decreased by 10pc.
“Verizon Wireless’s aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base contributed to RIM capturing three of the top five positions,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at the NPD Group.
“The more familiar, and less expensive, Curve benefited from these giveaways and was able to leapfrog the iPhone, due to its broader availability on the four major US national carriers.”
In other related news, RIM has confirmed that the next generation of its touchscreen smart phone, the Storm 2, is in development, as announced by co-CEO Jim Balsillie at an investor presentation on Monday.
By Marie Boran
Pictured: RIM’s BlackBerry Storm smart phone
