Oh! My Goodness: BlackBerry’s Blues Continue as Platform Falls to Third Place

It's another humiliating day for Research In Motion. The company's BlackBerry, which once owned 55% of the smartphone market, has now fallen to third place with less than a quarter share, according to comScore.

To make matters worse, BlackBerry's share seems to be falling pretty quickly. In February, RIM was number two in the market with 28.9%, based on an average of the previous three months. By May, RIM's share had dropped 4.2% to 24.7%, behind Apple's iOS with 26.6% and Google's Android platform with 38.1%.

RIM's platform held a number one ranking in 2009. But by the first quarter of 2010, iPhones and Android handsets had cut into that share with a combined 49% of the market, compared to 41% for RIM.

The latest news follows a woeful June for RIM, which saw its market value drop 20% after a poor earnings report and forecast. And it was conspicuously silent as Apple and Google announced new features for their platforms early that month.

One reason for BlackBerry's decline: lack of app support, which has been exacerbated by RIM's frequent API changes and the fact that users often have to pay a higher price for BlackBerry apps than they do for the same apps on iOS or Android.

More About: android, apple, blackberry, ComScore, Google, iphone, RIM

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