I don’t often like to post “numbers” news since we’re hardware guys, but this particular stat sticks out: Mike Lazaridis just reported that BlackBerry sold 150 million phones in the past 12 years and sold 15 million last quarter. To put this into perspective, Nokia shipped 108.5 million mobile devices in Q1 2011 while AT&T alone sold 3.6 million iPhones last quarter. Like the baby bear’s bowl of porridge, RIM isn’t too hot nor is it too cold. Some would say, in fact, that those sales are just right or, barring that, tepid.
There are plenty of reasons RIM will last out this decade and there are plenty of reasons – namely the rise of Android devices – that it won’t. However, I worry that the 15 million number will dwindle as business consumers get more choice and more options. End-to-end security isn’t important when you have, for example, secure webmail or a secure connection to a web app.
That said, the new Bold is quite handsome. I hope it’s enough to keep crackberry enthusiasts, well, enthused.