I am almost reluctant to jump to the defense of Apple, but today’s released Q1 smartphone sales are completely misleading. Many sites are making a big deal out of the fact that the Blackberry 8300-Series, the “Curve”, outsold the iPhone in Q1 2009. What no one is mentioning is that on most carriers, the Curve is now available without a smartphone contract. This means that handsets are going out at a heavily-subsidized price, yet Blackberry and the carriers are not receiving their data plan revenues. It seems to me that the Curve is being picked up in droves by consumers interested in the perceived status of a smartphone (plus the great keyboard as text messaging become ubiquitous) without the high monthly cost of data and Blackberry E-mail plans.
My guess is that the Curve is now a loss leader for RIM, who hopes that the users will think of a Blackberry when they are ready to get a true smartphone.
This is not an attempt to discount RIM’s great quarter, but in terms of revenues, a Blackberry without a Blackberry plan is not exactly a smartphone. Follow the money…
