BlackBerry Curve Leapfrogs iPhone 3G in The NPD Group's Latest Smartphone Ranking

Only a few days after the release of consumer satisfaction survey among smart phone manufactures by J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Wireless Consumer Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study and the 2009 Wireless Traditional Mobile Phone Satisfaction Study, which declared that iPhone came out on top of yet another consumer satisfaction ranking. The NPD Group released its U.S. smartphone sales numbers for Q1.According to their numbers, RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8300 serials move past Apple's iPhone to become the best-selling consumer smartphone in the U.S. in the first quarter (Q1) of 2009.

 

Based on U.S. consumer sales of smartphone handsets in NPD's "Smartphone Market Update" report, the first-quarter 2009 ranking of the top-five best-selling smartphones is as follows:

1. RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)

2. Apple iPhone 3G (all models)

3. RIM BlackBerry Storm

4. RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except flip)

5. T-Mobile G1

 

The above numbers show that RIM had BlackBerrys in three of the top five positions, and managed to overtake the iPhone 3G from the top of the list. So, how did the RIM unseat Apple and manage to have BlackBerry Curve rank highest among smartphone users?

 

The availability on all the big carriers (the iPhone is, of course, still only on AT&T), as well as its $99 (with a new two-year contract) price tag contribute to this fact. Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless probably helped boost Curve sales with its "buy one, get one free" promotion, according to NPD.

 

"Verizon Wireless's aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base contributed to RIM capturing three of the top five positions," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at The NPD Group. "The more familiar, and less expensive, Curve benefited from these giveaways and was able to leapfrog the iPhone, due to its broader availability on the four major U.S. national carriers."

 

According to the NPD report, RIM's share of the smartphone market increased a solid 15 percent to a full 50 percent of the smartphone market in Q1 2009 versus the prior quarter, while , both Apple and Palm (which didn't land a handset in the top 5) both witnessed their shares fall 10 percent. Maybe this is a potentially worrying trend for Apple.