Apple’s iPhone tops BlackBerry in RIM’s own backyard

Research In Motion has been delivered a another blow from Apple and the iPhone in the company’s home country of Canada. Bloomberg, in conjunction with IDC, on Thursday reported that RIM’s BlackBerry smartphone line shipped 2.08 million units in Canada last year, compared with 2.85 million iPhones shipped by Apple. In 2010, BlackBerry sales topped the iPhone by half a million units, and in 2008, a year after the iPhone’s debut, RIM outsold Apple by almost five to one. “For RIM, in its home market, to lose that No. 1 position to iPhone is strategically important,” said Paul Taylor, a fund manager at BMO Harris Private Banking. “It does identify, even with a home-country bias, how consumers are responding to the greater functionality of the iPhone.” In the past year, RIM has seen declining sales in both Canada and the United States. Canadian sales, which account for about 7% of RIM’s revenue, fell 23% in the third fiscal quarter and U.S. sales dropped 45%, bringing the company’s worldwide revenue down 5.9% compared to the prior year.

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