Market research firm IDC has for years been compiling data on the best-selling smartphones in the US. While their numbers from the second quarter of 2009 ranked the Palm Pre at #8, in the following three months the Pre moved up to #6. The jump was likely spurred on by a number of factors, including increased supply and price cuts at Sprint and resellers, as well as the fact that the Pre was only on the market for one third of the second quarter.
While it is completely expected that the sales rate would drop off following a major launch, indications are that the Pre’s sales numbers haven’t dropped as much as some analysts have claimed. Unsurprisingly, the iPhone 3GS is the sales king, though Research in Motion’s BlackBerry line owns six of the top ten spots (including #2 and #3). What is surprising is the relative lack of Android devices on the top ten list, with only one being the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G at #8, as well as the absence of any Windows Mobile Phone devices (the previous quarter had two in the top ten).
While we are interested to see the list for the current quarter, what we’re really looking forward to is the top ten list for Q1 2010. By then the Pre will (hopefully) have launched on Verizon and possibly other networks, and we suspect that the Pixi may also be available outside of Sprint by then.
[via: Fierce Wireless]
Thanks to Rene for the tip!
Comments
wow i think it puts into perspective the competition. I was surprised to see that all the phones above it are iphones and RIMM devices. I'd have thought that at least the 3GS would canibalize the 3g and wouldn't have thought the storm did that well. Rimm has a lot of darn phones.
not surprised about the lack of Android. Until recently basically the G1 was the only publicized android phone outside the cellphone enthusiast circles.
Not to harp on your titles again but saying it's "moving up in the world" sort of infers this is a world ranking. Which as your first sentence indicates is not covered in this. maybe it should say "moving up in the U.S."
I think it was used as an expression and not literally. Which is why he immediately explained what the ranking included.
yes i understand that. Regardless my point still holds true.
What about the World Series?
Now that should be the US Series. And while we're at it, the World Champions in the NBA should be changed to the US Champions.
what he said.
Just surprised to see BB Storm on the 5th position....
I agree the Storm is the worst phone ever...I have it.....Waiting for Pre to come to verizon then I will drop the storm so fast.
...which is why so many people have it-- it's the best smartphone they can get at the moment.
Not surprising since it's been offered as buy one get one free.
Maybe the increase in # may have to deal with more carriers adopting the phone and its getting cheaper???
Interesting. What is Palm marketing doing now? Looks like they could go out some more and spread the words. Maybe Pre will nudge ahead more. In order words, I really don't see what Palm marketing is doing anything useful.
Hopefully Palm will have another Sprint exclusive phone in the lineup for 2010. Because I would hate to share my Pre with Verizon customers. Verizon is a horrible company! :)
That number 6 ranking is slightly deceiving. It is available by one provider(Sprint). So to compare apples to apples, the iPhone's(AT&T) and Storm(Verizon) are the only ones available by only one provider as well. The other higher ranking RIM devices include all similar models available by multiple providers. So, it is really not bad in the rankings.
The iPhone and Storm aren't the only ones available by only one provider as you state. The myTouch 3G is only on T-Mobile and the BlackBerry Bold 9000 is only on AT&T.
i don't think it's deceiving. It was just a ranking of the "top selling smartphones". Not the "top selling smartphones that are only on one carrier."
Sweet. I didn't know Pre was selling that well. #6 in a few months isn't bad at all.
maybe this will quiet some of the naysayers for a while.
Probably not, but we can hope.
I don't see it staying as high as #6 after Q1 2010. Don't forget the onslaught of new Android phones coming out. The Pre had to enter the world quietly since there was a shortage of supply and it obivously still needed alot of work. The Droid was released with heavy marketing and hit the gates running. It won't take long to surpass the Pre in sales. Hopefully Verizon will do the same for Pre in terms of marketing and sales. We know Palm doesn't know how to market.
it will be interesting to see what happens in 2010. the price is plummeting. obviously i don't know if that's cause sales are up, down, or the same. But at like $75 now i wonder what a verizon would charge for it. will it be popular? It's not exactly the iphone popularity wise now so will Verizon try and ask palm for a cheaper unsubsidezed price? who knows. will be interesting to see.
great to see some progress in sales share. Most useful phone I've ever had and it's great to not rely on jailbreaks to customize the phone!
People knock Palm for being a small company with limited resources, but the truth is and anyone running a small company will know, is that you tend to make the most of the resources you do have rather than waste time and money on things that don't matter or will not have as much impact. Also makes you hungrier to win overall. I think Palm lost that hunger before which is why it got left behind. I am expecting Palm to drop another explosive announcement in Jan 2010 like they did in 09. The WebOS future is really exciting to me. I can't say the same for other platforms. I used to think it would be Android, but seems like they are doing what many PC Linux distros did, which is make Linux Windows-like rather than create a new user experience like WebOS has.
Don't get me wrong, I love Linux. I just got tired of them making me feel like I was always using a Windows knock off or substitute. The OS is too powerful to be just an imitator or clone. Give me something that feels brand new and different. Google cares about getting on as many handsets as possible to get as many eyeballs as possible for search and advertising. User experience will never be the same on any phone. Some people will love the OS and some people will hate depending on who the handset manufacturer is.
So when are they changing this to WebOSCentral anyway?? LoL
#6 smartphone when you're only on 1 carrier that has just 25% market share? That's HUGE! It's one thing to be on VZ or ATT who have bigger customer bases, and have big numbers. Sprint has 20-30% fewer customers than either of the other two. Much smaller universe. When Pre launches on VZ and ATT, it should climb further, even with the flood of new phones entering the market.
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