Archive for February, 2010

Motorola no longer in top 5 phone makers, RIM takes its place

Friday 5 February 2010 @ 9:50 pm

Research in Motion has managed, for the first time in its history, to enter the top five phone makers. The Canadian company sold 10.6 million BlackBerry devices in the first quarter of 2010 – more than Sony Ericsson and Motorola.

Sony Ericsson is now the world’s fifth largest phone maker, while Motorola is no longer in top five.

RIM’s excellent results were helped by the fact that smartphone sales grew quickly in the last few years. The company’s achievement is even more impressive in the light of the fact that it sells only smartphones – unlike the other top 5 companies, which also sell feature phones. RIM plans to launch BlackBerry 6 OS later this year, as well as several new devices, so the future seems quite bright.

As expected, there are no surprises when it comes to the world’s first three largest phone makers. Nokia leads with 107.8 million phones sold. Samsung follows with 64.3 million units sold, and LG takes the third place with 27.1 million handsets shipped.

Overall, 294.9 million mobile phones were sold around the world during the first quarter of 2010 – a 21.7% increase over the first quarter of 2009.

Via IDC

Comments (0) | Posted in BlackBerry,Motorola

BlackBerry 9670 to be launched only via Verizon and Vodafone?

Friday 5 February 2010 @ 8:20 pm

BlackBerry 9670, RIM’s second smartphone to come in a clamshell form factor (after the Pearl Flip 8220 / 8230), might be exclusively available at Verizon and Vodafone.

According to Fudzilla, the BlackBerry 9670 is a clamshell just because Verizon asked RIM to do it in this form factor. Reportedly, the carrier also “supplied the specs” , which should include a 5MP camera, Wi-Fi, full QWERTY keyboard, and an updated OS (that’s BlackBerry 6).

The 9670 should be some sort of an affordable “hip device” targeted at young users.

Obviously, Verizon will sell the CDMA version of the BlackBerry 9670 in the US, while Vodafone should get the GSM version for Europe and other markets. No word yet on the release date of the BlackBerry 9670.

Via Phone Arena