Via @hametner, a couple of handset and Mobile Network Operators (MNO) metrics of interest (USA).
Top 5 U.S. smartphones sold in Q1 2009
- BlackBerry Curve
- Apple iPhone 3G
- BlackBerry Storm
- BlackBerry Pearl
- T-Mobile G1
Note that 3 out of 5 are BlackBerry handsets, and that 4 out of 5 are Java handsets! RIM seems to own over 50% of the *consumer* space in the US; i.e these numbers do not include enterprise sales. As @hametner ponders, “does this mean that Apple needs to expand beyond exclusivity to have a broader cross carrier offering?”… Yes,interesting…
Top 5 US MNOs by number of subscribers at the end of Q1 2009
- Verizon — 86.7M subs
- AT&T — 78.2M subs
- Sprint — 48.1M subs
- T-Mobile — 33.2M subs
- US Cellular — 6.2M
Verizon continues to be ahead, and with Verizon committing to LTE that means a very large LTE deployment supposedly starting in 2009, and with rumors that Apple and Verizon have been talking that would be a great opportunity for Apple and its “Pinky and the Brain” world dominance expansion plans for the iPhone!
Other MNOs, at&t and T-Mobile are all either committed or still evaluating LTE with eyes towards 2011, with Sprint pretty much committed to WiMAX (at this point).
Sources:
Disclaimer: I’m a Pinky and the Brain fan!