BlackBerry nicks iPhone's UK smartphone crown Smartphone sales went backwards in the UK during Q3 as customers abandoned Nokia and Apple. The figures don't look good when compared to last year's storming sales, and it's clear shoppers held off buying new gear during the build up to the latest iPhone launch. According statistics from abacus fondlers Canalys, shipments …
Next quarter numbers are going to be pretty interesting. Is the iPhone 4S a big deal or a damp squib? Can WP7 pull Nokia out of the death spiral? Will Blackberry's consumer market hold up as WhatsApp and iMessage destroy the BBM advantage? Is the recent dip in Android sales in the US just a blip or the start of a wider slowdown?
Interesting times in the smartphone 'verse.
I think that 'destroy' is too strong a word. 'Erode' would be more like it.
RIM's way of doing push is very good, being well optimised for minimising network traffic and maximising battery life. Blackberry is popular amongst cash starved chavs who have recognised that those characteristics save them money and hassle.
It is going to be very difficult for Apple or anyone else to surpass Blackberry push on purely technical grounds. That may translate into an inability to attract customers who demonstrably already do care about bills and batteries. Though Apple's reality distortion field does cause some very strange purchasing decisions...
"You seriously believe that chavs care for the technical solution of how their walled garden messaging works?"
Well, I find it very hard to believe that BB, the functional tool of the hard nosed businessman, was some how deemed 'cool'. Some kid somewhere must have worked out that BBM was cheaper to run on their limited pocket money and stingy allowances on pay-as-you-go SIMs than SMS or anything similar from anyone else. I doubt very much that that kid looked at *why* it was cheaper; the fact that it *was* cheaper is probably why BBM has become popular with kids in the UK.
But the reason it was cheaper is because of the way RIM have implemented push.
Incidentally, does the notion behind a BB PIN remind anyone else of Compuserve's xxxxx.yyyy style addresses? RIM might need to take care if they ever open up BBM to incoming messages from the internet; it would represent an easy spamming opportunity.
The key thing to remember - which you along with most commentators seem to have forgotten - is that up to now Apple only occupied the high end of the price range. That's all changed now, with decent iPhones at the same prices as the competition. Expect to see a big effect on the numbers at the end of the next quarter. Apple have always controlled the marketplace, mainly because they 100% own the platform which gives them unequalled pricing power - but up to now they have chosen not to flex their muscles. Why have none of the commentators ever mentioned this?
Not sure about "cash starved chavs" - or may I'm just saying that because my school age daughter has one. If its chavy for them to want to save their precious credit whilst constantly messaging, then maybe I should get her the latest iphone with a £50pm contract.
I suspect that if you was still a school kid right now you would probably want a BB too - or maybe you were the "briefcase wanker" kid with no friends to message.
I came to BB from Android for one reason the keypad. Most kids are also sick of doing somersaults trying to hit those stupid little boxes then flipping the phone over to make them bigger but still being stupid with no proper travel or click. Have you not noticed that not only BBs are popular but BB look alike's for instance the new SE txt and Samsung Chat are also popular with the PAYG youngsters.
Contrary to what pundits say (who are just a bunch of nerds after all) the key board is back. I now wish I had bought a RIM phone years ago because the Bold I have now is used far more than any other phone I have had, The Wifi on these phone also helps.
Declined because elop and his minions decided not to ship any products this year. It had very little to do with demand.
Looking on all the providers tariffs earlier this year the only Nokia's actually available were some POS candy bars. Very little if anything resembling even a feature phone let alone a smartphone.
Talk about doing their damnedest to destroy themselves.
People waited excitedly all year for the iPhone-5 release and when the "5" failed to arrive the "4S" appeared with exactly the same external image of it's predecessor and with hardly any new features other than silly Siri - This phone is simply a total and utter letdown for people that have been literally holding back all year to upgrade. Apple have got it really wrong i'm afraid. Even my Apple fanboi friends didn't show much enthusiasm.
But even worse, still can't believe people are buying Blackberry either? Are you serious? They are extremely difficult to use. I can't believe that people would accept this crap compared to what else is on the market. Blackberry user interface falls real short of basic expectations...
Nokia execs have also been asleep on the job, far too busy taking holidays to worry about designing new phones and instead they're spending the office day choosing the metallic paint on their new company cars to notice everyone else had moved on by monumental proportions.
Can't envisage how Nokia will be able to close this gaping distance now? Miracles? anyone?
Remember the reported Nokia convention? Where their boss said "how many people here use iPhone" and more than half the attendees put their hands up... Nuff said.
As this was my 1st smart phone purchase, i just wanted something with no issues. I don't have a lot of money so a free handset for £8.99/ month was cheaper than my pay as you go so I jumped. Apple phones are out of my price range and they seem to keep getting basic technical elements wrong. Antennas and batteries aren't new so what's up with that? Like I said, BBs are proven tech and I wasn't bothered about having the latest whatever, just a good phone that's reasonably durable with WiFi. Job done.
I was worried about the tiny buttons as I have big fingers but I was surprised to fine that typing is quite agile.
...but here, the 4s 32 GB simlock free costs 759 Euro's, which equates to about over 1000 USD, and it's not even the most expensive one. And there will be a new one in 6 months. 1K$ for a phone ? I don't think so. In case no one hase noticed in Cupertino : the economy is in the toilet over here.
I'm pleased to see that for all fanboy-ism and tech-press spin; BB's are still holding their own cause they Get Stuff Done. All of the football supporting that surrounds smartphone ownership, while distracting, isn't swaying the Brit consumer.
The new Curve rocks and I'll be ditching my Nexus S for one next pay day. Touchscreens are sub-optimal for text input. They just are.
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