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Gartner reports that worldwide sales for Smartphones topped 32 million units for the second quarter of 2008.  It seems that the North American consumer shrugged off any thoughts of a downturn in the economy.  This market experienced an annual increase of over 78%.  Even with new competitors and the new touch screen technology, Nokia kept its leading worldwide market share, although its growth rate was half the market average.  Nokia will address this sluggish growth by introducing its own touch screen Smartphone later this year.

On the other hand, Research in Motion (“RIM”), the maker of the Blackberry, came in with a stalwart performance for 2008 topping 126% growth from last year.  Gartner reports:

“RIM continued to execute well at the consumer level, increasing its global market reach. In the second half of the year, the company is expected to launch smartphones based on new form factors, which are necessary to keep pace with the competition at the consumer level”

The apparent lackluster sales for the Apple iPhone was due to inventory troubles on the initial sales of the iPhone, but we should expect record sales numbers for the second half of this year.

Read the complete story as reported by Judy Mottl of InternetNews.com in her article Smartphones Show No Signs of Slowing.

Speaking of RIM and its latest clamshell BlackBerry …

Research in Motion announced its latest entrant into the consumer market with the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220.  This model is aimed at Apple’s iPhone consumer based market and not the conventional RIM enterprise user.  The usual full keyboard has been reduced to a 20 button keyboard which favors the web surfing of consumers over the text entry preference of the enterprise user.  Competition in this space can be fierce with such competitors as Apple’s iPhone, Nokia’s Symbian OS, and the soon to be released Google Android.

AR Communications analyst, Carmi Levy, commented on RIM’s strategy,

"RIM's ability to get all of its next-generation devices out the door and into the channel by year's end as originally planned is critical to its continued market and revenue growth,"

This latest 8220 Flip open Smartphone boosts 2 LCD screens.  When closed, the outside LCD allows the user to preview calls, emails, and text messages.  Also available on the 8220 will be AOL AIM and ICQ instant messaging services, and AOL Mail.

Read RIM's BlackBerry 'Flips' Out to Woo Consumers for a more complete story.

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I must confess that I just don’t get it. I am not a person that has to be the first to have the newest gadget, especially when it comes to the latest technology.  Give it time.  Let them work out the kinks.

Long lines were the order of the day for those wanting to be the first to get their iPhones.

Some people even got creative in their quest to be first in line.

One consequence that should have been anticipated was that iPhone buyers were unable to activate their phones as Apples online iTunes store was swamped.

Customers were told to go home and activate their phones by connecting them to their own home computers. The media is loaded with horror stories on this information meltdown.

Here are some links to articles just to give you a flavor of what happened today:

iPhone goes on sale, problems arise

Software problems bug Apple's launch of new iPhone

My other nightmare -- first the -4 and then AT&T activation

Rough Launch for iPhone 3G

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In my reading of interesting and relevant articles posted on the web, there have been several follow-on articles which expand on some of my more recent posts to this Blog. Due to the number of articles that I have come across, I thought it best to cite to some these articles, with a line or two of brief explanation, and let the reader pick and chose any article(s) of interest. I found the following to be of particular interest:

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  Time to Scrap Your BPM Spreadsheets? SMBs have powerful SaaS alternatives: Here is a way to streamline the budgeting and financial planning process. This will facilitate collaboration, what-if scenarios, and contingency planning.
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  Apple Watchers Salivate Over 3G iPhone Rumors - Developer conference expected to be launch venue for new iPhone: This will be one to watch this week. Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) starts Monday, June 9th in San Francisco. Could this be Apple’s answer to the recent flurry of applications announced to be integrated into the BlackBerry?
  
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  Software Sales in 'SaaSy' Transition - The consumer-inspired trend of easy, online access to applications is finding a ready market in the enterprise: What can I say. We told you so. This is a discussion about applications designed for the end-users and not colorful reports to impress the top brass.
  
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  BlackBerry Defies Stagnant Tech Spending - Companies are untying IT purse strings for smartphones but not for much else these days: With IT spending slowing down, RIM’s market share is estimated to reach 82% this year.
  

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