RIM Loses No. 1 Smartphone Shipments Spot to Apple in Canada for 2011

From DailyTech: Apple seems to be encroaching on Research-In-Motion's (RIM) territory by surpassing the telecommunications company's smartphone shipments in Canada.

RIM, which is headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, traditionally had many Canadian smartphone customers due to RIM being a Canadian company. In 2008, RIM outsold Apple's iPhone by 5-to-1 in Canada, and in 2010, BlackBerry outsold the iPhone by 500,000.

But this customer loyalty was challenged recently when Apple surpassed RIM for the No. 1 spot in smartphone shipments. Last year, RIM shipped 2.08 million BlackBerrys in Canada while Apple shipped 2.85 million iOS-powered devices.

According to Bloomberg, RIM failed to promote its devices once the iPhone came around. After years of being known for innovative smartphones, the company felt it didn't need to promote anymore. But the iPhone began to take over, offering more apps and a user-friendly experience. BlackBerry soon fell way behind, with Google's Android operating system coupled with Samsung, HTC and Motorola phones being Apple's only true competitor.

"For RIM, in its home market, to lose that No. 1 position to iPhone is strategically important," said Paul Taylor, a fund manager at BMO Harris Private Banking in Toronto. "It does identify, even with a home-country bias, how consumers are responding to the greater functionality of the iPhone."

RIM's sales in Canada fell 23 percent from Q3 2010 to Q3 2011 while U.S. sales dropped 45 percent. RIM's worldwide revenue fell 5.9 percent.

According to Bloomberg analysts, RIM will likely report a fourth-quarter 2011 profit drop of more than half to 82 cents a share. They also expect an 18 percent drop in sales to $4.53 billion.

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