Which phone do you have? The Blackberry or the iPhone?
According to market researchers at the NPD Group, chances are -- if you bought you're phone during the first quarter of 2009 -- you have a Blackberry Curve.
The NPD Group says, in the smart phone game, the Blackberry Curve is outselling the innovative Apple iPhone in sales so far this year, despite the iPhone's innovative design winning over gadgets freaks since its release.
The researchers say that part of the reason RIM (the makers of the Blackberry) is winning the sales war is availability. While the iPhone is exclusive to AT&T, the Curve is available on all four major U.S. wireless carriers.
A buy-one-get-one-free promotion by Verizon Wireless also helped the Curve, according to NPD analyst Ross Rubin.
"Verizon Wireless' aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm, and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base, contributed to RIM capturing three of the top five positions (in U.S. smartphone sales)," Rubin said in a statement. "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."
Exact data was not released to the public, but the reports say the Blackberry Curve the #1 selling smartphone for the first three months of 2009. The iPhone finished second, followed by another Blackberry, the touch-screen Storm.
NPD estimated that RIM snagged almost 50% of the U.S. smart phone market in the first quarter, up 15% from the fourth quarter of 2008. It believes that Apple and Treo maker Palm Inc. both saw their share of the smart phone market drop 10% during that time.
According to the New York Daily News, at one point last year, the iPhone outsold all Blackberries combined.
Apple and/or RIM reps had not commented at press time.
Which phone do you have? The Blackberry or the iPhone?
