RIM lose Canada to Apple for the first time

Research In Motion have been knocked off the top spot in hometown Canada for the first time, to be replaced by Apple's, with their iPhone.

The maker of Blackberry smartphones shipped 2.08 million Blackberry phones last year in Canada compared to Apple's 2.85 million, according to data complied by Bloomberg and IDC. In 2010, Blackberry had a strong year, outselling Apple by almost half a million units. Looking back further to 2008 showed that RIM outsold Apple by almost figures of five to one.

Canada has always been a strong market for Blackberry as locals feel a loyalty to the Canadian brand. This shows how strong Apple are right now, worldwide.

Blackberry have released a new range of phones in recent months, spearheaded by the excellent BlackBerry 9900. RIM are set to release BlackBerry 10 models later this year which they claim are their best phones to date.

Canadian sales account for 7 percent of RIM's revenue and their overall revenue dropped by 23 percent in the fiscal third quarter from a year earlier.

The problem with RIM is that they aren't seen as being innovators of new technology and the shiny iPhone is attracting the younger audience.

Alfred DuPuy of Interbrand research firm said “They got so good at innovation they just expected the product to sell itself. From a brand perspective, they just lost their way.”

Kitguru says: We hope they can rescue their sales. How can they do it?

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