Here is what iSuppli says: Changing of the Guard in Cell Phones: RIM and Apple Displace Motorola: In yet another indication of the smart phone’s revolutionary impact on the wireless business, Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) and Apple Inc. in the first quarter rose to the fifth and sixth positions in the global market for all types of cell phones, while Motorola Inc. fell to eighth place. RIM, whose cell phone line consists entirely of Blackberry smart phone devices, achieved the best results of the Top 10 cell phone brands in the first quarter, with its shipments rising by 364,000 units or 3.6 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2009. This defied the industrywide slowdown and caused the company’s rank to rise to No. 5 in the global cell phone market, up from eighth place in the fourth quarter of 2009. Apple in the first quarter shipped 8.8 million mobile handsets, every one an iPhone, giving it a 3.04 percent share of global shipments. Company shipments rose by 0.2 percent from 8.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, giving it the No. 6 position in the market in the first quarter, up from ninth place in the fourth quarter of 2009. Apple achieved the second-largest sequential increase in shipments among the Top 10 brands. RIM and Apple were the only smart phone brands among the Top 10 to achieve sequential quarterly growth. In contrast, Motorola in the first quarter posted a 29.2 percent decline in shipments to 8.5 million units, down from 12 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. This caused the company’s rank to slide two positions to eighth place, falling behind both Apple and Chinese handset OEM ZTE Co. Ltd...
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