While Research In Motion has steadily been losing top smartphone manufacturer claims in markets across the world, the BlackBerry remained the top smartphone in here in Canada perhaps due to our loyalty to the Canadian company. But desipte remaining on top, its market share has been sliding. Bloomberg now reports that the slide shows no signs of stopping and Research In Motion has at last been dethroned as the top Canadian smartphone manufacturer.
Data compiled by IDC and Bloomberg shows that RIM shipped 2.08 million BlackBerry devices last year in Canada. Apple, the new leader, shipped 2.85 million iPhones in the same period. While Canada accounts for only 7% of RIM’s revenues, the defeat is likely to be a psychological blow. “For RIM, in its home market, to lose that No. 1 position to iPhone is strategically important,” said Paul Taylor, a fund manager with BMO Harris Private Banking. “It does identify, even with a home-country bias, how consumers are responding to the greater functionality of the iPhone.”
It has been an ugly fall for RIM. In 2008, RIM sold nearly five BlackBerry devices for each iPhone Apple sold. By the end of 2010, that had shrunk to a 500,000 unit lead.
RIM’s hopes are now pinned on the upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system. New devices are not expected until the latter part of the year but RIM will showcase BlackBerry 10 at its upcoming BlackBerry World taking place from May 1st to 3rd in Orlando.
Read more: Bloomberg