RIM nears iPhone's sales with 6.7 million BlackBerries
After a symbolic victory over Research in Motion, Apple may have its fortunes reversed as the BlackBerry maker has almost exactly matched iPhone 3G summer sales during the fall.
The Waterloo, Ontario, Canada company said on Thursday that it had shipped about 6.7 million smartphones between September and November in what's characterized as a "record" quarter.
Even as a "challenging" world economy threatened to undo RIM's success, the firm says it earned about $2.8 billion in revenue, a dramatic 66.3 percent leap over the fall quarter in 2007. Roughly 81 percent of that money is chalked up to phone sales, while the rest is split across services and software.
Much of the increase is credited directly to a trio of phone launches in the period that included the BlackBerry Bold, Pearl Flip and Storm. Despite frequently hostile reactions by reviewers to the Storm, the company's first-ever touchscreen phone, the company said in a statement that its new lineup was being snapped up at an "even faster pace" than anticipated.
In a financial conference call held after the close of the stock market, the company noted that the Storm's launch with Verizon on November 21st represented the single largest day for new subscriber additions in RIM's history and that it has had trouble keeping up with demand for both the American carrier and recent Canadian introductions.
It's Verizon's best-selling device, RIM also said during the call, though the exact sell-through hasn't been given.
The shipment figures mark a surprising inversion for the BlackBerry creator, which suffered the embarrassment of being outperformed by Apple this summer after just over a year of iPhones competing in the same marketplace as RIM's products. Apple shipped 6.9 million handsets in the first quarter of the iPhone 3G's existence but will now have to almost match its launch figures to reclaim its lead -- a feat considered difficult by analysts warning of possible weaker iPhone sales during the holiday season.
Not all was positive for RIM. Although it expects to fare well in its winter quarter, which lasts December through February, the company says that it added a relatively modest 2.6 million new BlackBerry service subscribers in the fall versus the 2.9 million predicted earlier in the year. The shortfall points to more BlackBerry sales heading to existing users than to new converts; during its financial call, RIM attributed much of this to the Bold where the Storm and other devices were split more evenly between newcomers and veteran users.
Both Apple and RIM have less to fear than Palm, however: the Treo-making pioneer sold through just 599,000 of its smartphones over the same three months tracked by RIM, leading to a 13 percent tumble compared to fall 2007 that will add to the market share of its larger American rivals.
The Waterloo, Ontario, Canada company said on Thursday that it had shipped about 6.7 million smartphones between September and November in what's characterized as a "record" quarter.
Even as a "challenging" world economy threatened to undo RIM's success, the firm says it earned about $2.8 billion in revenue, a dramatic 66.3 percent leap over the fall quarter in 2007. Roughly 81 percent of that money is chalked up to phone sales, while the rest is split across services and software.
Much of the increase is credited directly to a trio of phone launches in the period that included the BlackBerry Bold, Pearl Flip and Storm. Despite frequently hostile reactions by reviewers to the Storm, the company's first-ever touchscreen phone, the company said in a statement that its new lineup was being snapped up at an "even faster pace" than anticipated.
In a financial conference call held after the close of the stock market, the company noted that the Storm's launch with Verizon on November 21st represented the single largest day for new subscriber additions in RIM's history and that it has had trouble keeping up with demand for both the American carrier and recent Canadian introductions.
It's Verizon's best-selling device, RIM also said during the call, though the exact sell-through hasn't been given.
The shipment figures mark a surprising inversion for the BlackBerry creator, which suffered the embarrassment of being outperformed by Apple this summer after just over a year of iPhones competing in the same marketplace as RIM's products. Apple shipped 6.9 million handsets in the first quarter of the iPhone 3G's existence but will now have to almost match its launch figures to reclaim its lead -- a feat considered difficult by analysts warning of possible weaker iPhone sales during the holiday season.
Not all was positive for RIM. Although it expects to fare well in its winter quarter, which lasts December through February, the company says that it added a relatively modest 2.6 million new BlackBerry service subscribers in the fall versus the 2.9 million predicted earlier in the year. The shortfall points to more BlackBerry sales heading to existing users than to new converts; during its financial call, RIM attributed much of this to the Bold where the Storm and other devices were split more evenly between newcomers and veteran users.
Both Apple and RIM have less to fear than Palm, however: the Treo-making pioneer sold through just 599,000 of its smartphones over the same three months tracked by RIM, leading to a 13 percent tumble compared to fall 2007 that will add to the market share of its larger American rivals.
Comments
However, this is good news for Apple stock, as anything RIMM can do Apple can do better, at least lately the iPhone has to be selling better than RIMM's offerings.
Some of the analysts are thinking Apple will beat 7MM iPhones for Q1. I don't buy it, but... it would make things interesting.
Now what about all the stories of returned and returning Blackberry Storms? They can sell boatloads, but if a third to half come back, they're screwed.
People who tried to discount the iPhone cited returns as well, but they're never actually very high. If it were, the internet would be completely inundated with the story.
Now what about all the stories of returned and returning Blackberry Storms? They can sell boatloads, but if a third to half come back, they're screwed.
Give me a break with those numbers. Totally nuts.
There were tons of Verizon subscribers who wanted an iPhone but bought this because they couldn't have one. They'll keep them too.
Apple has a ways to go with their enterprise support. Their implementation of ActiveSync is a bandwidth hog on our networks compare with WinMo phones. Two iPhone saturate one ActiveSync server.
Both Apple and RIMM's sales figures were padded via channel stuffing, so I don't know if you can trust either 6.9 million number, particularly if RIMM refused to offer sell-through numbers, while we know that Apple's sell-through was about 4.9 million.
However, this is good news for Apple stock, as anything RIMM can do Apple can do better, at least lately the iPhone has to be selling better than RIMM's offerings.
Maybe except in this case. Blackberrys fall sales are the same as apples summer sales. Summer is when iphone was released. So if we know the best apple can do with the sales is near the release date then we know apples fall sales will inevitably be less than RIM's. I woupd think this is common sense but I see that some are confused.
Honestly, does it matter? Will more sales of Blackberries make my iPhone any less useful? No. There's no point in all these dumb market share comparisons. Market share doesn't make a product any better or worse. I would be surprised if Apple ever had more share than RIM; a company that sells several models on several different carriers.
It matters a lot to stockholders - why even read this thread if you are just a consumer? Its like going into a thread about the next xeon processor and saying "who cares? All processors are about the same for running firefox".
JR
That gets you 200 minutes, 500mb data. That's it.
Doesn't include voice plan. Doesn't include texting.
Mandatory 3 year contract. Works out to a $3688 contract... add the price of the phone... your looking at $4000 for a phone that your locked into for 3 years.
I would love to have one, but lol...
I was at a Rogers store last weekend and people inquired about the iPhone, the sales staff told them to forget it, and showed them some Samsung piece of crap. They don't even put them on display anymore.
The iPhone is as good as dead in Canada.
The absolute minimum plan you can get from Rogers on an iPhone here in Canada is $102.45/mo.
That gets you 200 minutes, 500mb data. That's it.
Doesn't include voice plan. Doesn't include texting.
Mandatory 3 year contract. Works out to a $3688 contract... add the price of the phone... your looking at $4000 for a phone that your locked into for 3 years.
I would love to have one, but lol...
I was at a Rogers store last weekend and people inquired about the iPhone, the sales staff told them to forget it, and showed them some Samsung piece of crap. They don't even put them on display anymore.
The iPhone is as good as dead in Canada.
What the heck are you talking about, I have the brochures for the iPhone 3g for fido and rogers in front of me and the plans start at sixty dollars, the iPhone is far from dead here, its probably the hottest phone at least here in Toronto where everyone is rocking one.
Honestly, does it matter? Will more sales of Blackberries make my iPhone any less useful? No. There's no point in all these dumb market share comparisons. Market share doesn't make a product any better or worse. I would be surprised if Apple ever had more share than RIM; a company that sells several models on several different carriers.
Well said dude I'm sick of all these lame comparisons. If you like iPhone, go for it, if blackberry, go for it. I just don't see the need for these pissing contests.
Well this is natural when world is shifting towards smartphones. The only two choices are Apple and RIM. So people buy what fits them better. RIM is totally different market. Its business, while iPhone has its own huge market. Both companies need to grow but very carefully, not to explode.
Apple and Rim share half the market; Nokia has the other half. The bigger curiosity is how fast the market is growing.
Both companies have different business strategies and market focuses, but they start to overlap...
Given that Apple has only been in the business one year, the fact that they put pressure on BB and forced them to come up with a new device is a big deal.
Also note that Apple does not offer a device for Verizon. They would have more sales if they did.
It matters a lot to stockholders - why even read this thread if you are just a consumer? Its like going into a thread about the next xeon processor and saying "who cares? All processors are about the same for running firefox".
Maybe to stock holders who don't know what they're doing? This is precisely why the damn stock market is so volatile; too many inexperienced people trying to use the market as a means of making quick cash rather than actually investing in a company they believe in.
If a company is doing well regardless of how or where the industry is, it really shouldn't matter. People who actually invest in a company look at that companies bottom line and their ability to adapt and move forward, the competition should be an after-though. As Apple has demonstrated time and time again, they are more than willing to make drastic changes to stay ahead.
And besides all of that, this is a rumor site for Apple, not an investor's site. If you base your "investing" decisions off this website, you're a fool.