As if Research In Motion needed more bad news, the Ontario-based manufacturer has fallen behind Apple as the number two smartphone brand in Canada, its home turf. Apple sold 2.85 million iPhones, while RIM pushed out only 2.08 million units.
Canada and the States once represented BlackBerry’s best markets but recent sales have continually declined with the rising popularity of iOS and Android handsets. In fact, as the New York Times points out, domestic government agencies such as the ATF have stopped issuing BlackBerrys to employees.
For RIM, emerging markets offer a silver lining. In the Middle East and Africa, RIM sold 8.3 million handsets compared to Apple’s 2.5 million units due to the popularity of BlackBerry Messenger. And in Latin America, RIM sold 10.6 million devices—five times the number of iPhones purchased—because of the lower cost of BlackBerrys.
[via Bloomberg via New York Times]
