“While Apple is the smartphone technology leader, it is not the sales leader. Importantly, it’s still trailing BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM). This is a platform land grab, so sales and market share count,” Dan Frommer writes for The Business Insider.

“During the three-month period ending in February, RIM shipped 7.8 million devices, or an average 2.6 million per month. During the three-month quarter ending in December, Apple shipped 4.4 million iPhones, or an average 1.5 million per month. The periods don’t overlap beyond the crucial month of December, but it seems RIM could be outselling Apple by about 1 million devices per month,” Frommer writes.

MacDailyNews Take: How many of RIM’s unit sales were actually “smartphones” that are capable of accessing RIM’s expensive, clumsy derivative App Planet (or whatever they call it) that requires users to buy apps via PayPal? (Only BlackBerrys running version 4.2 or higher with trackballs or “SurePress” – click, click, click – touchscreens qualify.) Every single one of Apple’s 4.4 million unit sales were smartphones. “Brilliantphones,” actually; and every single one works perfectly and seamlessly with Apple’s iTunes App Store which is, of course, far and away the world’s largest and most-dominant mobile app store.

Frommer continues, “How can Apple improve its position?”

• Sell the iPhone with more carriers, especially in the U.S.
• Negotiate cheaper service packages with carriers so more people can afford iPhones
• Potentially offer an iPhone with a slide-out keyboard
• Make iPhone email better

“That’s a good start. Other improvements like background app processing could help down the road, but we don’t think many people are snubbing Apple for RIM just to run the Pandora app in the background,” Frommer writes. “To be sure, Apple is definitely kicking RIM’s butt in terms of profitability, user experience, customer satisfaction, app platform, and hardware and software design. And RIM had the benefit of a buy-one, get-one-free promotion to juice its February quarter shipments. But this is a game Apple can and should win — and right now, it’s not.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Dan, you forgot “‘Buy One, Get One Free’ to temporarily pad unit sales” in your bullet points. Or is that only for the desperate like RIM and Verizon who can’t compete with the iPhone on the merits of their devices, so they have to give them away. Anyway, Frommer’s first two are obvious, regardless of feasibility. The third would simply be catering to luddites – an act for which Apple doesn’t seem to have the stomach. The fourth is the only one where Apple could really focus on improving (and is, as Frommer mentions in his full article). That said, we send and receive email with our iPhones just fine, thanks.