“Research In Motion and AT&T sold no more than 150,000 of the devices over the weekend, according to estimates by RBC Capital Markets and Stifel Nicolaus analysts,” Goldman reports. “By comparison, Apple’s iPhone 4 sold 1.7 million units in its first weekend of sales.”
Goldman reports, “RIM hailed the BlackBerry Torch as the ‘best BlackBerry ever’ earlier this month, and it’s unquestionably the company’s most advanced smartphone. But AT&T, the phone’s exclusive carrier, also offers Apple’s iPhone. At the same $199 price point and the same data charges, customers would really have to love the new BlackBerry operating system and the Torch’s pull-out keyboard to choose a Torch over an iPhone.”
RIM “went through a similar ordeal with Verizon Wireless’ BlackBerry Storm and subsequent Storm 2,” Goldman reports. “The Storm was RIM’s first try at a touch-screen, but without a physical keyboard, it never appealed to RIM’s core customers and failed to live up to the ‘iPhone killer’ hype.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “The Other ‘Steve'” for the heads up.]
They are just setting themselves up for disappointment the more they keep touting these new products as iPhone killers.
If this is the best they can do, why don’t they just give up?
Why would they give up, they used to own the smartphone market. Do you think Tiger Woods should give up? I don’t.
Must be depressing up north.
Are we really surprised?
What’s happening with RIM is precisely the kind of thing that Jobs has said happens when “a monopoly expires” and the people in charge are sales bozos.
It’s sad, the Blackberry was a truly a innovative device — 6 years ago.
RIM needs to stick around to provide Apple that “competition” it so desperately needs to innovate…
HughB,
What are you implying about Tiger?
As a Canadian, I would really like to see RIM innovate and be successful in the marketplace. However, they seem to really be on the decline nowadays. One year ago, all my college-aged friends were on the Blackberry train. Everyone was getting Curves and Pearls, mostly because they were cheap and popular. Nowadays, the vast majority of those people say they would not buy another Blackberry, and that their next device will be either an iPhone (most) or an Android device (anti-Apple crowd).
The hardware used to be quite competitive. Now, it is derivative and antiquated. I’m looking at you, hardware keyboard and low-res screen. RIM’s software has never been even comparable to the first iPhone OS, let alone iOS 4.
I give them 3-4 more years until they are relegated to a very niche market of email-only customers.
–mAc
RIM == PALM
Before I got my iPhone, I was a Berry supporter. When I saw the slide out portrait keyboard my first thought was “huge mistake” rendering The phone far to tall in my personal oponion. With the new droid and i4 both out classing the berry in hardware, and this bad design on top it didn’t shocked me one bit when I saw this story. Kinda sad to see my old love falling flat
RIM + PALM + WinMo 7 = RIP
The only iPhone killer is the next generation iPhone.
In desperation, RIM will soon offer an Android-based phone to appeal to non-corporate customers. Palm did the same thing in offering WinMo phones, pre-Pre (and WebOS), when they were rapidly losing Palm OS users. Look where they ended up. RIM is in better shape because of their enterprise customers, but that won’t hold up forever.
Classic canadian company: lazy, entitled, up their own ass.
For too long, Canadians have had it way too easy; now its hard they dont have a frickin’ clue.
RIM will eventually be purchased by Msft or some other fools.
Things are changing – Canada has a resource-based economy, dont make anything (Blackberries are made in China, of course) – and RIM are probably only three years away from disaster.
Oh, and YES!, I do think Tiger Woods should quit, btw.
@ken1w
You may well be right. And if RIM do issue an Android model they may well try anything else they can get their hands on like WM7 or WebOS to try and stay afloat by widening their appeal.
THUD! RIMM is doing nothing but losing share hand over fist! Bye bye RIMM.
THUD! RIMM is doing nothing but losing share hand over fist! Bye bye RIMM.
THUD! RIMM is doing nothing but losing share hand over fist! Bye bye RIMM.
THUD! RIMM is doing nothing but losing share hand over fist! Bye bye RIMM.
THUD! RIMM is doing nothing but losing share hand over fist! Bye bye RIMM.
THUD! RIMM is doing nothing but losing share hand over fist! Bye bye RIMM.
THUD! RIMM is doing nothing but losing share hand over fist! Bye bye RIMM.
True test here. RIM can’t sell that turd to AT&T customers that can also own an iPhone! They would believe it to be an iPhone killer if they were selling it to people that could not get an iPhone!
RIMs main market, business, is just a lot smaller than the iPhone consumer market.
How many businesses are going to line up at a store waiting for it to open?
Bet ya the vast majority of the sales were only current customers upgrading.
(I don’t remember the last time I used/heard the word “vast”. There was that scene in DUNE.)
@ Derek in Milan,
Canada does have the healthiest banking system on earth. What recession? Yes, we do have a resource economy but we do assemble more automobiles than we buy each year. The rest are exported to the USA. We do have some manufacturing.
With the odd exception, we also make the best beers on the planet.