Waterloo’s Research in Motion has to stand and watch as their piece of the growing multi-billion dollar Smartphone pie is being taken. The company, much to the dismay of shareholders and nationalists seems to be staying stagnant while competitors are releasing a multitude of superior devices.
According to the FP, Gartner Inc. shared that RIM’s portion of the industry fell by 1.1% to just 1.9% in Q2 of this year. The year over year loss stands in stark contrast as the stars of the class Apple and Samsung have seen sales and market share grow over the same period.
Samsung’s incredible rise to the top of the Smartphone industry has the Korean firm currently owning 21.6% of the market, more than 1 out of 5 devices. Apple and their iPhones represent 6.9% of devices while Nokia represents strongly with 19.9% as well.
The lack of interest in RIM has been self-inflicted in that the company simply has not brought enough exciting and innovative devices or platforms forth while others have pushed the envelope and have plans to announce even newer advancements later this year.
It seems that even if RIM decides to release their own devices moving forward their best bet may be in licensing their upcoming BB10 platform to as many players as they can. The company is already licensing their QNX platform, which powers their BlackBerry PlayBook devices to automotive companies for integration into their infotainment systems.
The company’s stock had moved up 13% last week after word began to surface that Samsung were looking into licensing the BB10 platform, however following the Korean firm’s statement denying those claims, the stock once again fell flat. RIM has seen its stock drop 75% over the past year.