BlackBerry grows in America, stagnant growth in Asia

We have seen records of RIM growth in America and the recent stats by IDC says that RIM’s dominant U.S. market share has hit 44.5 percent last quarter, but the other side of coin is pretty dull. In the Asia-Pacific region, Windows Mobile devices hold stronger market penetration, at an estimated 6 million devices shipped last year – while RIM’s was under 1 million, according to Springboard Research.

Besides the cost of the BlackBerry server, its service costs are higher than Windows Mobile’s push mail service, resulting in a higher total cost of ownership (TCO). Bryan Wang, research director of connectivity at Springboard, told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail interview that BlackBerry’s uptake in the region is slower than that in the U.S. partly because of Windows Mobile’s dominance, and also due to the associated service costs associated with BlackBerry’s push mail function. An that is not all RIM soon will have to face increased competition at Sprint stores because of Samsung’s Instinct smartphone, this estimate to roughly 9% of RIM’s revenue.

source BusinessWeek