Apple's iPhone tops BlackBerry in RIM's home of Canada for first time
Last year marked the first time ever that Apple outsold Research in Motion in its home country of Canada, as Canadians move from BlackBerry to the iPhone.
RIM shipped 2.08 million BlackBerrys last year in Canada, while Apple bested the company by shipping 2.85 million iPhones, according to data from IDC and Bloomberg. Though Canadians have remained loyal to their homegrown BlackBerry brand for years, smartphone sales in 2011 show that devotion waning.
A year earlier, in 2010, BlackBerry sales were 500,000 greater than the iPhone, while in 2008 the BlackBerry outsold the iPhone by a nearly five-to-one margin.
RIM has quickly fallen from being the market leader to an outsider, as Apple's iPhone and devices running Google's Android operating system have risen to prominence. The company's losses prompted the ouster of the company's co-CEOs earlier this year.
The new CEO, Thorsten Heins, plans to oversee the launch of RIM's forthcoming mobile operating system update, BlackBerry 10, later this year. Smartphones running BlackBerry 10 are expected to arrive in the second half of 2010, but many analysts feel it will be too little, too late for the struggling Canadian smartphone maker.
While RIM is no longer the market leader in its home country, the BlackBerry still has success in some emerging markets, Bloomberg noted on Thursday. Specifically, RIM shipped 8.3 million BlackBerrys in the Middle East and Africa last year, while Apple shipped 2.5 million iPhones.
"In Saudi Arabia, teenagers have embraced RIM because they can flirt using its free BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging, avoiding local religious police who restrict interaction between unmarried men and women," the report said.
Apple has also failed thus far to unseat RIM's BlackBerry in Latin America. Last year, RIM sold 10.6 million BlackBerrys there, while Apple sold 2.1 million iPhones.
Instead, Apple has focused most of its attention on China, viewing it as a huge market with astounding growth potential. That bet has paid off thus far for the company, as evidenced by the news this week that China is the world leader in iOS device activations.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
Seriously Canada, what's wrong with you?
First world issues... Oh no we're too slow adopting the latest tech.
Gimme a break...
Actually, Android is the biggest selling in Canada... By far. It's being aggressively pushed by telcos here, and you can get many phones for free, and as you know, free always sells best.
They'll also subsidize top of the line Android phones quite heavily, you can get a 600 dollar dual-core, large screen Android for a hundred bucks or less if you sign a contract.
First world issues... Oh no we're too slow adopting the latest tech.
Gimme a break...
Learn to take a joke.
A friend of mine asked me "what is the most secure phone on the market today? President Obama's Blackberry." So i returned with "yeah, AND his trusty iPad 2 in his carrying case"
Sigh.
Well, it's about time Canada! Far too many Canadians have been caught up in the RIM reality distortion field for far too long.
So glad the W.G.A. finally became involved.
Idiots......
95% of all adverts here are for stupid Andriod or BB phones. There is an annoying dearth of iPhone ads. Of course, all the free phones are Andriod. When the iPhone came here, for the first year or so when Rogers had a monopoly, they should have plugged the iPhone like crazy, but astonishingly, no. All BB, then later all Andriod, all the time.
Idiots......
One word explains it all:
Spiffs
Actually, Android is the biggest selling in Canada... By far. It's being aggressively pushed by telcos here, and you can get many phones for free, and as you know, free always sells best.
There is no free (with 2 year contract) iPhones 3GS in Canada?
Like this was never going to happen?
Smartphones running BlackBerry 10 are expected to arrive in the second half of 2010, but many analysts feel it will be too little, too late for the struggling Canadian smartphone maker.
Nope, I think that 2010 would have been just about right... pity (for RIM) that you actually mean 2012
I don't think I've ever seen an iPhone ad in print, and the only iPhone ads I see on television are the ones Apple runs. In contrast, all the commercials that the carriers run feature android phones. I do see commercials for rim but I believe those are put out by rim - I don't think they're carrier-specific commercials that are advertising rim phones.
I am surprised though that it's taken until now for iPhone to surpass Rim in sales. Of everyone I know with a smartphone, there's one blackberry and the rest are all iPhones. Maybe I just hang with the right crowd.
Dont know if giving out free phone is considered as selling.
A sale is a transaction. In this case a free phone requires a contractual obligation which has an associated cost. On top of that the carrier has a contract to pay the vendor x amount for each of the "free" handsets. They all count.
95% of all adverts here are for stupid Andriod or BB phones. There is an annoying dearth of iPhone ads. Of course, all the free phones are Andriod. When the iPhone came here, for the first year or so when Rogers had a monopoly, they should have plugged the iPhone like crazy, but astonishingly, no. All BB, then later all Andriod, all the time.
Idiots......
Wow. You make it sound Canadians missed out on a miracle cancer drug for soooooooo long!
There is no free (with 2 year contract) iPhones 3GS in Canada?
Yes, there is.