Every once in a while a media outlet comes up with reasons why the iPhone will surpass BlackBerry in cell phone market share. The latest is Forbes magazine, though the analysis comes from company called Trefis. They break down the trends of each company, and have determined that the iPhone will overtake BlackBerry in early 2011. As in, a year from now. The main evidence is that Apple has grown a bit faster, going from .3 percent market share in 2007 to 2 percent in 2009, while RIM went from 1 to 3 in that period. Further, they expect RIm to have an 8 percent cell phone market share by 2016, with Apple ahead of them at 11 percent.
I’ve never been one to buy into long-term forecasts like this. So much can change, and change quickly. For instance, if you were doing six-year forecasts in, say 1994, you might not have accounted for the internet. That would have thrown off everything. So, while Apple might be on pace to grow faster than RIM, it’s far from a given.
Tester types fast on a Bold
At PC Pro, writer Paul Ockenden tested out the keyboards of six popular smartphones to see which allowed him to type the fastest. The list includes the Apple iPhone 3GS, the HTC Hero and Touch HD2, the Nokia E75, and the BlackBerry Bold 2 and Storm 2. Here are his results.
It looks like the Bold is the best, and by a decent margin. The drop-off seems precipitous after the Nokia. The Touch HD2 did the next best, beating the iPhone by two seconds and one error. The downside, of course, is that the Storm 2 is by far the worst among the group. But there’s good news about that…
RIM to implement new screen on Storm2
This news came down last week, but there wasn’t confirmation (I think) before we ran News From the Wire. It appears RIM is shipping out the Storm2 with an improved screen. Verizon stores have to return their stock by today, and have already started receiving shipments of the new models. Users having issues with their screens might be able to trade it in, though there doesn’t appear to be a hard and fast guideline. Best to check with your local store.
Tip of the week: Don’t wipe your device if you see JVM Error 201. First, use this workaround so you can recover everything from your device. And then wipe it and start over.
Using Skype on Verizon
As we know, BlackBerry users will soon be able to make Skype-to-Skype calls from their devices. While we don’t have a ton of details on the matter, we do have a video. And if we have a video, well, we have to post it.
Weekly wrap-up
Just some stray links and items.
- Twitter and LinkedIn apps around the bend. So claims RIM. Make sure to click through for a good laugh.
- Win a copy of Tether. We already have 69 responses, as of this writing, to win the 25 licenses. WE’ll be picking winners on Monday.
- Telus getting the Pearl 9100 in black and pink. Now the only question left to answer is of when we’ll see it.
- T-Mobile again tops in customer satisfaction. T-Mobile has a stranglehold on this award.
This post originated at BBGeeks.com – home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.
BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 3/8/2010
This post originated at BBGeeks.com – home to all things Blackberry! Also a great source of info about AT&T BlackBerry.
BlackBerry News From The Wire for the Week of 3/8/2010