Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry Curve smartphone outsold the popular Apple iPhone in the first quarter of 2009, NPD Group research indicates.
The BlackBerry Curve has been available through four different U.S. carriers, while the iPhone is tied exclusively with AT&T, which helped give RIM a significant advantage. Furthermore, a Verizon-led "buy-one-get-one" promotion also helped give the Curve a needed boost to get by the iPhone.
"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," NPD Group director Ross Rubin said in a statement.
There was a time last year that Apple said it would be able to topple RIM, the smartphone leader for many years, though it looks like the Curve helped RIM turns things around. With the Curve in the number 1 spot and the iPhone in number 2, the touchscreen BlackBerry Storm smartphone locked in the third position in Q1, NPD said.
RIM reportedly controlled 50 percent of the smartphone market in the United States during the first quarter, a 15 percent increase over the 2008 fourth quarter. The company shipped 7.8 million BlackBerry phones throughout its fiscal fourth quarter, ending on Feb. 28. Apple shipped 3.8 million iPhones during a quarter that ended on March 28, but didn't say how many phones were sold.
Both RIM and Apple are engaged in a growing smartphone battle, as RIM seemingly dominated the market up until the release of the iPhone. As the iPhone's popularity grew throughout the world, RIM has also started to increase its efforts to attract non-corporate mobile phone users.
