US handset sales droop in Q1, RIM rides into top 5

Unless you've been squarely camped out under an atypically large boulder the past few months, you aren't apt to be taken aback by this news. Sure enough, handset sales declined 22-percent in Q1 2008, though the industry did move some 31 million mobiles during the post-holiday quarter. It was noted, however, that smartphones comprised 17-percent of all mobile sales, which marks a 10-percent increase from the prior quarter. When taking a look at the top five handset manufacturers, you'll find Motorola shakily perched at the top (27-percent), while RIM slipped past Sanyo to grab the five spot with 5-percent. Check the read link for all the gory details.

[MichaelP @ May 20th 2008 7:12AM]

The picture indicates 3 unread messages. The problem is, he was sent 5 messages.

That's part of why RIM is slipping.

[L @ May 20th 2008 7:20AM]

Erm...reading comprehension, anyone?

[Tim @ May 20th 2008 7:27AM]

RIM slipped UP-market, into the 5 spot, not the other way around. I don't have a BB so can't personally attest, but as they push emails, I'm sure their inbox fills up more closely to their home/office computer than any other phone currently on the market.
My iPhone works really well for sending emails, and I have no problem with its capabilities the other way around. But if I was in a position that heavy BB users are, it would drive me insane; same for any other phone that I've owned, and I would imagine any other w/o RIM service.

[MichaelP @ May 20th 2008 7:42AM]

OK, I did misread. I mistakenly thought a "slide" is usually downhill...

On reading the linked article then reading the above article again, I realized RIM did in fact "slide" up into the top five, rather than down to #5. That's what I get for skimming.

But as for my original comment, we have been having problems since the "service outage" of not getting all the messages. The linked email account gets everything, but the BB doesn't receive all of them. It may be fixed now; I'm with our help desk, but I'm primarily LAN-related, not mobile issues.

[Cirian75 @ May 20th 2008 8:15AM]

"Slips into the top 5"


would have read better .

[MichaelP @ May 20th 2008 10:02AM]

@ Cirian75:

Actually, "[u]Climbed[/u] into the top 5" would have been better.

[Tim @ May 20th 2008 7:17AM]

I actually would not have guessed that - even though I suppose everyone who is getting a cellphone in the US has one by now (and probably has been the case for a while), I imagine most of those that are sold are replacements for previous phones; so I wouldn't expect much of a change, especially with phones getting better and better.
Then again, for most people a cameraphone that can play/download ringtones would be all the features a phone needs, if they even want that much, so once they have such a phone, there's no real reason to upgrade.

[ipodrulz @ May 20th 2008 7:44AM]

His RIM a Canadian company?

[Andrew @ May 20th 2008 7:55AM]

Yes RIM is a Canadian company, based out of Waterloo, Ontario

[Kspraydad @ May 20th 2008 9:27AM]

Damn straight they are.

[initialxy @ May 20th 2008 9:51AM]

we, Canadians, want some of your money, buddy!

[arteekay @ May 20th 2008 8:11PM]

I'm not your buddy, guy.

;-)

[IndiaTech @ May 20th 2008 2:31PM]

I am not your buddy, friend!

[Zap @ May 20th 2008 7:44AM]

And I'm expecting smartphone sales to keep increasing. Phones like the Centro, Pearl, BlackJack II are all real cheap, and real good.

[Nabil @ May 20th 2008 12:19PM]

True

The BlackJack II can do eveything the iPhone can do and more for only $99

[Akshat @ May 20th 2008 8:05AM]

If Moto is at the top with a healthy 9% margin, what exactly is the problem there, and all the hullabaloo about a sell/spin off? They seem to be doing pretty good ...

[BradVT @ May 20th 2008 8:20AM]

I wonder how much of that 27 percent is attributed to RAZRs.

[Cygnus @ May 20th 2008 9:32AM]

These are US-only sales. Globally, Moto is taking a beating

[Cygnus @ May 20th 2008 9:34AM]

Overall, interesting. I keep reading here on engadget - both in the blogs and in the comments - on how the iPhone is supposedly totally destroying RIM. Hmmm, makes one think...

[crescentdavid @ May 20th 2008 9:51AM]

Well, RIM's been around for awhile and Apple's the new kid on the block. I don't think you can make the argument the iPhone hasn't had a tremendous impact on the market for being so new. Put it this way ... only the iDiots are claiming world domination for the iPhone ... but the smart crowd knows Apple has made a great start and will continue to be a worthy competitor.

[Scott Equine @ May 20th 2008 10:12AM]

...the problem, my dear Akshat, is that despite that "healthy" lead in market share in the US market, Motorola is loss making on its handset business, AND the other half of its operations only just make enough money to cover that loss, to give a 1% OP margin for the company as a whole, barely enough to cover the interest they have to pay on their $4bn debt.

In a nutshell, the US market is not enough! Nokia has around 40% of WW share (incl US) vs. Motorola's 10%. And Nok seems to be gaining more and more and Mot keeps dropping it. :(