Posts Tagged ‘Consumers’

Android Over Takes RIM in Unit Sales

August 6th, 2010 BBerryNews

Android

For the first time since 2007 RIM was not the #1 in US smartphone sales.  Don’t for a second think it was Apple, rather Android stands #1 in Q2 2010 sales.  Numbers from NPD group show Android accounted for 33% of U.S. smartphone compared to 28% and 22% for RIM and Apple respectively.  I am not overly shocked as Android devices released almost every other week in Q2 2010.  The Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Incredible, HTC Evo 4G, HTC Hero, and HTC Droid Eris ranked amount the hottest Android devices.  On the other hand the was not RIM’s quarter for new devices.  HTC must be laughing all the way to the bank.

It will be interesting to see where the unit sales end up for year end, but it is amazing to see the success of Android.  I personally want to see if Android remains ahead of iPhone in Q3 given the release of iPhone 4.

Now before you go jumping off a bridge you have to read the fine print of the NPD report as it reveals something interesting.  Here let me make it larger for you.

Data Note: The information in this press release is from Mobile Phone Track – NPD’s consumer tracking of U.S. consumers, aged 18 and older, who reported purchasing a mobile phone. NPD does not track corporate/enterprise mobile phone purchases.

Yeah, so one of the larger markets that RIM focuses on is not accounted for here.  It is like tracking PC sales and saying, lets not count business sales.  This does highlight consumer demand and RIM is trying to address this trend.

Considering the numbers have always been reported this way it is still a huge event, but keep in mind we are ignoring a large portion of sales.  So you be the judge of what the numbers mean.

[Source NPD]

Android Over Takes RIM in Unit Sales is a post from: RIMarkable



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Video: The BlackBerry Platform

July 28th, 2010 BBerryNews

The BlackBerry Platform

There is no question that Research in Motion is doing everything they can to make the BlackBerry more popular with consumers.  The currently running BBM commercials are in indication of that.  It is good to know, however, that RIM isn’t ditching that date that brought them to the dance…  Business users.

Say what you want about the iPhone and Android devices, but, when it comes to smartphones used in the corporation, the BlackBerry reigns supreme.  The BlackBerry Platform video shows you a lot of reasons why that is, and, continues to be the case…

Video: The BlackBerry Platform is a post from: RIMarkable



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Bistream Launch 2nd Generation of BOLT Browser

May 26th, 2010 BBerryNews

Bistream has announced the 2nd generation of its BOLT browser. BOLT 2.1 brings the browser out of beta testing and comes with tighter integration with Facebook and support for HTML5 video as well as several new Flash video streaming websites.

With the BOLT browser, users can watch HTML5 videos including youtube.com, cnn.com and video.google.com. Other great features of BOLT include tabbed browsing, a faster widget gallegy with a new UI and a server upgrade to WebKit 4.03. The latest BOLT browser is also available to OEMs and mobile network operators who want to co-brand and white label the service.

BOLT 2.1 and BOLT Lite is available for free at boltbrowser.com. Consumers who have downloaded previous versions of BOLT will be prompted through the application to upgrade the browser.

© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2010



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Only 20% Of BlackBerry Users Run OS 5

May 17th, 2010 BBerryNews

BlackBerry OS Pie Chart

Al Sacco from CIO.com posted an interesting pie chart displaying the distribution of BlackBerry Operating Systems in use and, not all that surprisingly, only 20% of current BlackBerry users run OS 5, the latest BlackBerry OS, on their device.  What is kind of surprising, however,  is that RIM still allows the carriers to exercise ultimate control as to if and when BlackBerry OS updates will be released on carrier branded BlackBerry devices.

OS 5 is significantly better than OS 4, however, it is primarily the carriers that have dragged their heels on officially releasing their branded versions of  BlackBerry OS updates that are readily found online as unsupported leaks.  The BlackBerryOS  is a bit more utilitarian than other mobile operating systems like Android, the iPhone OS, and even Palm’s webOS, thus end users may not be as concerned with updated their device simply because it performs that tasks that they bought it for, however, the carriers need to do a better job of getting OS updates in front of consumers in a more timely fashion than they currently do.

BlackBerry 6, the next version of the BlackBerry OS, is set to debut sometime this summer. With the BlackBerry Storm2 and the BlackBerry Bold 9700 being the only BlackBerry devices currently available that will be upgradable to  BlackBerry 6 it will be interesting to see if updates to BlackBerry 6 get to consumers faster than updates t0 legacy devices that have come before them.

[Via BerryReporter]

Only 20% Of BlackBerry Users Run OS 5 is a post from: RIMarkable

Related posts:

  1. Sporadic outages fustrate BlackBerry users…
  2. Why Isn’t RIM Hyping Up The Next BlackBerry OS?
  3. How Many BlackBerry Users Will Bite The Apple?
  4. Is The BlackBerry Due For A Major OS Overhaul?



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Bad News: RIM Take an Additional 10% from BlackBerry Developers

April 19th, 2010 BBerryNews

Today, RIM sent out a notice to all App World vendors that they are taking an additional 10% revenue cut from developers, in order to fund “support the expansion into new markets and to allow for additional billing models.” Previously, RIM allowed developers to keep 80% of the revenue they earned, and this has just been changed to 70%.

This has given developers yet another reason not to make great applications for BlackBerry. Currently, Apple allow the developer to take a 70% cut of the revenue, but they offer a convenient way for consumers to purchase apps, and their store is embedded on every single iPhone sold. While RIM said they’ll be implementing credit card billing, this only brings them a little closer to the portal that Apple provide, and therefore they should offer the developer a higher cut to account for their lack of distribution.

For a platform that is in desperate need of more developers, this was a very silly move on RIM’s part. Click through after the jump where we have a copy of the letter sent to developers.

Attention BlackBerry App World Vendors

We hope you are enjoying the new BlackBerry App World Vendor Portal 2.0, which adds a variety of new features and capabilities to make it easier for you to distribute your applications on BlackBerry smartphones!
 
We are now taking the first step to introduce credit card and carrier billing support for BlackBerry App World, as announced at the 2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference.  These new billing models will open up additional opportunities for you to sell your applications in new markets. 
 
In part to support the addition of these new billing models, if you are distributing paid applications, there are changes to your agreement with Digital River.  This email is provided as notice to you, by RIM on behalf of Digital River, of changes to your Digital River Vendor Agreement.  You will find both black-line and clean copies of the amended Digital River Vendor Agreement attached.  
 
In addition, there are also changes to your agreement with RIM.  This email also provides notice to you of changes to your RIM Vendor Agreement.  You will find black-line and clean copies of the amended RIM Vendor Agreement attached.  
 
These new agreements will also be posted in the Vendor Portal shortly.
 
The changes in these agreements include an update to the BlackBerry App World revenue share from 80% to 70%.   This change is being made to support the expansion into new markets and to allow for the additional billing models referenced above. 
 
We are also introducing Bango as the Merchant of Record for carrier billed transactions.  If you are distributing paid applications, you will soon be presented with the Bango Vendor Agreement, for acceptance, when logging into the Vendor Portal.
 
Our goal is to ensure that BlackBerry App World provides developers with unique opportunities to successfully monetize applications created on the BlackBerry application platform.  We hope that you are as excited as we are about these new billing models.

Best regards,
 
BlackBerry App World Management

© Kyle for BlackBerry Cool, 2010



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