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19th Feb 2025

Will Competition Change the Way People Buy Cell Phones?

Will Competition Change the Way People Buy Cell Phones?

Everyone buys cell phones. For a long time, everyone pretty much had the same old clunker, but now there are more options than people know what to do with. As a result, the competition among different companies has become nothing less than fierce.

Unfortunately for Research in Motion (RIM), it looks like Blackberries are lagging in the three-way race between it and iPhones and Androids, at least in the United States. Reports released today put Androids at the top of the market with 44%. Its share in the U.S. smartphone market increased by 11 percentage points while Apple's rose by 1; Research in Motion's dropped by 6%.

It’s been speculated by many that a fair chunk of Blackberry-owners would prefer an iPhone, but aren’t AT&T subscribers and don’t want to switch networks. Rumors have been abound for months that Apple’s exclusive contact with AT&T is up and that Verizon will release its own iPhone within the next year, in which case a good number of Blackberry owners will probably replace their RIMs with iPhones. Androids might take a hit as well, though it’s likely to be a smaller, as AT&T offers its own line of Droids, and there are unlocked cell phones (including iPhones) available.