Research In Motion appears to have dialed up a mainstream hit with the new flip version of its popular BlackBerry Pearl by tapping into cell phone users’ love affair with clamshell mobiles.
Also, analysts expect the flip Pearl will be relatively affordable right from its launch, which, combined with its shape, will make it RIM’s first truly mass market BlackBerry.
“There is a huge percentage of the population — especially North Americans and especially women — that seem to really like flip phones,” said Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek. “So now they have a BlackBerry that addresses that.”
RIM says that in the United States about 70 percent of mobile phone users opt for a flip phone. By attacking a market of that size, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company hopes to continue to diversify its customer base beyond its mainstay of executives and professionals.
“This device is a multimillion-unit device per year,” Misek said of the flip Pearl’s prospects.
The size and fashion appeal of a mobile phone are big considerations and consumers sometimes fickle tastes must be appeased if a device is to succeed.
“A lot of consumers don’t like the bulky BlackBerry holstered to a belt and having a small product that fits into a purse or a pant pocket is appealing,” Scott Pope, an analyst at First Analysis Securities Corp., said of RIM’s newest smartphone.
“It’s an excellent addition to the portfolio, which . easy fast cash. payday loan. has been short on consumer products.”
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