Android looms
A new threat is also emerging in the form of Android. Its ascent to phone domination continued into Q1, with sales of Android phones increasing by an amazing 707% year-on-year, according to market researcher Gartner.
Another study has shown Android is also a rival to the formidable Apple. Quantcast believes Google's Android operating system is starting to muscle in on Apple's iOS share. While iOS still has a significant lead with just shy of 60% of the total market, it has fallen from around 75% at the beginning of 2009, while Android has increased its share by around 5% over the same time frame, accounting for almost 20% of the market.
However, RIM is confident BlackBerry can hold its own against its much-hyped rivals with a rumoured new browser and operating system in the pipeline.
Jim Balsillie,co-CEO at RIM, says: "We believe that the range of exciting new BlackBerry products being released in the coming months will create significant opportunities to accelerate RIM's growth in the second half of the fiscal year."
RIM expects revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2011, ending 28 August to be in the range of $4.4-$4.6bn. According to Bloomberg, analysts' predicts are broadly in-line with the company's, estimating projected revenue of $4.51bn.
However, they warn BlackBerry needs to keep on innovating to keep pace with flashier alternative smartphones to give investors confidence, push the share price back up and put concerns over its future to bed.
