BBerry May Lose App War

Despite shipping 7.8 million BlackBerries and forecasting stronger sales, serious doubts exist about the BlackBerry's future, according to Needham analyst Charlie Wolf. Issuing a "hold" call on Research in Motion's stock, Wolf is concerned that the company's heavy dependence on home users for new subscribers -- 80 percent of the 3.8 million last quarter -- will leave it vulnerable to multiple new competitors, including the iPhone 3G S, the Palm Pre and multiple Android phones from HTC, Motorola, Samsung and others. He also worries that BlackBerry App World won't catch on and that greater choices with Apple's and Google's platforms will lead customers elsewhere.

"BlackBerry could be a loser in the upcoming smartphone apps war," Wolf says. "Software companies are increasingly focusing their development efforts on the iPhone and Android."

RIM was a late participant to the centralize app store field and launched BlackBerry App World only in April, months after Android Market and the iPhone's App Store became public. Recent estimates put App World's catalog at just under 1,100 titles while Android has 4,900 and the iPhone has about 50,000. RIM's policies also potentially discourage certain developers as it mandates that any paid app must carry a price of $2.99 or higher where both Apple and Google allow 99-cent and $1.99 downloads.

By Electronista Staff