Blackberry Jams Other PDAs Into A Cobbler

By John Stith
Staff Writer
Article Date: 2005-05-05

Blackberry climbs to the top of the heap in PDA sales over the head of palmOne in sales worldwide of the PDAs. The extraordinary increase is attributed to Western European sales, which grew a whopping 84.3%.

Sales of 1.3 million units matched sales in North and South America although the total increase was only 5% in those markets. Asian markets didn't fair nearly as well with less than half a million units sold in those markets that includes Japan.

The Gartner information reported palmOne as number two and HP as number three. palmOne lost some of its market share as well dropping down to 18%, the lowest since the company's inception in 1996. HP showed some growth at about 4.4% and is hot on the heels of palmOne with 17.6% of the market.

Nokia also jumped back into the market in 4th place at 9.9% followed by PC leader Dell with 6.3%. These studies didn't include the smartphones, which palmOne has done well in and in which Nokia faired nicely.

All this good information for Research In Motion (RIM), the manufacturer of Blackberrys, comes as they announce a deal with Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS) to begin marketing the Blackberry lines of products in Russia. When picking blackberries, there are always patches of bushes that can be tough to navigate. Time will tell how Blackberry navigates the Russian market place.

About the Author:
John Stith is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.