RIM's Curve top smart phone last quarter
Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry Curve 8300 was the top consumer smart phone in the U.S. in the third quarter as price cuts drove up sales, according to research firm NPD Group Inc.
Locally, RIM has operations in Rolling Meadows.
Apple Inc.'s iPhone 3GS and 3G models took second and third place, according to an e-mailed statement from the Port Washington, New York-based researcher today. Waterloo, Ontario- based RIM's BlackBerry Tour and Storm rounded out the top five.
RIM and Apple have cut phone prices this year, leading to a decline in average prices, NPD said. The Curve supplanted the iPhone 3G during the quarter amid buy-one-get-one-free BlackBerry promotions. Verizon Wireless customers can get two Curves in the 8300 lineup for $49.99. The iPhone 3G costs $99 with an AT&T Inc. contract.
The average purchase price for mobile phones in the U.S. fell to $85 from $88 a year ago, NPD said. Smart phones made up 28 percent of all handsets sold.
Global shipments of smart phones, which allow users to surf the Web and compose e-mail messages, climbed 4.2 percent to 43.3 million in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to IDC, a research firm in Framingham, Massachusetts.
RIM rose 11 cents to $59.83 at 3:46 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock had gained 47 percent this year before today. Cupertino, California-based Apple, which has more than doubled this year, climbed $4.98 to $204.90.
RIM's co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Balsillie also is benefiting from cheaper service plans for BlackBerry phones, and has said prepaid plans may boost growth in emerging markets.
Android
RIM gets about two-thirds of its revenue from North America. The company has expanded its customer base in the past year by selling the BlackBerry in China, the world's biggest mobile- phone market, and countries such as Russia and Ukraine.
Android phones, devices made by a variety of manufacturers that run on Google Inc.'s operating system, are winning users as well, mobile advertising network AdMob said today in a separate statement. HTC Corp. and Motorola Inc. are among the phone makers who use Android.
Android accounted for 20 percent of U.S. smart-phone traffic in October, nearly tripling its share from six months earlier, San Mateo, California-based AdMob said. AdMob, which compiles the data from requests for ads in its network of mobile Web sites and applications, is being acquired by Google.