The perpetual battle of BlackBerry versus iPhone is on, and Waterloo has won the first quarter. The interesting part lies in the actual device that won - even with the company's launch of the BlackBerry Storm, Curve 8900, Pearl Flip, and Bold, it appears that the device of choice is still the trusty BlackBerry Curve 8300 series. A recent analysis by NPD Group places the popular device in the top slot for US smartphone sales in Q1 2009 amidst some tough competition from Apple and HTC.
Stealing the title from the iPhone, NPD credits the Curve's success to the BOGO promotions that Verizon has been running as of late. The top five smartphones sold in Q1 of this year:
1. RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)
2. Apple iPhone 3G (all models)
3. RIM BlackBerry Storm
4. RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except for Pearl Flip)
5. T-Mobile G1
Sascha Segan (@saschasegan), the cell phone guru at PC Magazine, made a good point on Twitter this morning - the primary reason for the BlackBerry Curve's success is its availability across most of the US carriers. At any rate, having three devices in the top five lineup is quite the accomplishment. With the Pre and a potential new iPhone launching this year, the heat is going to be on as to who can be number one.
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Source: BGR