The rise of popularity in RIM's BlackBerry device for consumer and business audiences shows a steady increase in market share numbers in the United States.NEW YORK (Reuters) - For the first time Research In Motion Ltd's (RIM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
BlackBerry cornered 10 percent of U.S. cell phone sales in the second
quarter in a market that grew more than 5 percent despite economic
concerns, Strategy Analytics said on Monday.
The research firm said Canada's RIM was seeing huge success with
both consumer and enterprise handsets in the United states where total
mobile phone shipments rose 5.3 percent to 41.9 million units from 39.8
million in the second quarter of 2007.
Also in the second quarter Motorola Inc (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) managed to keep the lead in its home market.
While some analysts have been expecting Motorola to be overtaken by
rivals even in its strongest market the phone maker had
better-than-expected U.S. sales in the quarter, giving it 25.8 percent
of the U.S. market compared with its global share of less than 10
percent.
Motorola barely squeaked ahead of LG Electronics (066570.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to keep its global No. 3 ranking in the second quarter. It has been losing market share to rivals such as Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for well over a year amid criticism of its handset line-up and a lack of phones with high-speed Web links.
"Motorola is not yet out of the woods, but these are encouraging,
early signs of stabilization," said Strategy Analytics analyst Neil
Mawston, citing the company's strong distribution network and its U.S.
carrier relationships.
Strategy Analytics said LG took second place in the United States
for the first time in almost two years, due partly to sales of phones
with high-speed Web links by the country's No. 1 wireless service
AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
(Reporting by Sinead Carew, editing by Richard Chang)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved