Apple's iPhone Outsells BlackBerry in its Native Canada
Research In Motion has finally lost its home country advantage to Apple.
The company's BlackBerry, long a favorite among Canadians was outsold by Apple's iPhone for the first time last year, according to new data from data provider IDC.
RIM shipped 2.08 million BlackBerrys in Canada in 2011, the figures revealed, while Apple shipped 2.85 million iPhones. Canadian sales of the BlackBerry, which account for seven percent of total shipments of the handset fell 23 percent in the latest quarter.
The figures mark a humiliating reversal for RIM's BlackBerry, which just four years ago was outselling the iPhone in Canada by a nearly five-to-one margin. While losing traction like this among the hometown crowd is not a massive strategic defeat, it is surely a devastating psychological one for RIM, a Canadian success story.
Still, it is important to note that the BlackBerry remains the dominant smartphone in some emerging markets like the Middle East and Africa where 2011 BlackBerry shipments were more than triple those of the iPhone.
Research In Motion did not respond to requests for comment.