http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/01/nielsen-android-makes-huge-gains-in-us-smartphone-marketshare/
Has RIM lost its edge? According to the latest Nielson report (posted on Engadget), RIM’s BlackBerry line has lost significant market share in the smartphone market. Its share has fallen from 35% to 27.4% in just one year. That’s a 7.6% drop while Google’s Android increased its market share from a mere 9% to 22.7% in the same period. (iPhone’s market share stayed steady at around 28%.) This development should be a cause of concern for RIM’s management.
RIM has always positioned the BlackBerry, with a multitude of security and corporate features, as a smartphone for “cool” professionals (including Sauder students and Barack Obama). This certainly made the BlackBerry successful, but important changes have begun in the smartphone landscape and RIM still hasn’t caught up.
Take new BlackBerry models such as the Torch for example. These models retain BlackBerry’s traditional features such as a long battery-life and solid security. However, the lag behind the iPhone and Android models in just about everything else. The Torch has a much weaker processor, lower resolution screen (especially compared to the iPhone’s “retina” display), somewhat-outdated OS, and countless other features that lag far behind the competition. RIM must address these issues to stay competitive, especially in this multimedia age when processing power and display clarity on a smartphone (or entertainment device) is arguably more important than the traditional telephone function itself.
There is good news. The soon-to-be-released BlackBerry PlayBook seems like a compelling replacement for the iPad. That’s the first step in the right direction. Hopefully RIM can continue this momentum. As the company that popularized smartphones in the first place, it would be truly ironic if RIM misses the rim again. 
