BlackBerry can no longer claim supremacy at home. RIM was dethroned from no. 1 smartphone brand status in Canada for the first time, Bloomberg found.
The Waterloo-based company shipped 2.08 million smartphones last year, while Apple Inc.’s 2.85 million in the same period. This is a stark change from 2010 when RIM topped Apple by half a million, or 2008 when BlackBerry outsold iPhones by nearly five to one.
Canada has been a some kind of safe haven for RIM, with loyal customers such as RBC issuing BlackBerrys exclusively (others with similar brand dedication include BMO and the Bank of Nova Scotia). BlackBerrys are still the smartphone of choice for financial institutions or government bodies in Canada, though this is slowly changing throughout the rest of the world.
RIM argues that BlackBerrys still maintain an edge over emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, where the BlackBerry Messenger offer a shelter from the religious police out to regulate even the most harmless banter.
The company briefly struck a hopeful chord with the announcement of a new software, BlackBerry 10, advertised as the panacea to all its problems. But glitches have delayed the launch, which is now not expected until the end of this year.
Source: BlackBerry Loses Top Spot to Apple at Home, Bloomberg
