DISQUS

Elise · 2 years ago

We all know that RIM will not release CDMA blackberries before GSM blackberries for the simple fact that RIM is not an American company and focuses on the Global market. CDMA is a North American thing and RIM releases GSM devices first because the number of GSM users worldwide eclipses CDMA users.

Seriously.. think about it for a second.. RIM is in a country that only has one GSM carrier -- the vast majority of Canada uses CDMA. They *STILL* release GSM devices first. Just because Verizon has a couple of thousand more CDMA subscribers doesn't mean they're even a splotch on the world market.

hell no · 2 years ago

relax your verizon cheerleading. verizon has not taken the lead in anything other than perhaps crippled devices using a proprietary, closed technology to build it's network around.

cdma providers are dropping cdma and moving on up to gsm, the Global System for Mobile Communication.

"Seriously.. think about it for a second" Like Elise pointed out would RIM be smart making devices first for over 2.4 billion GSM customers or 4.25 million and dropping cdma customers.

Thought · 2 years ago

Actually, it's about 300 million CDMA users, which of course is still dwarfed by the over 2 billion GSM users.

I've written about this in a previous article:

http://www.blackberrycool.com/2007/03/14/003853/

However, with RIM getting over 64% of its revenues from the US market, it might benefit them to serve Verizon customers more aggressively.

Robb (RIMarkable) · 2 years ago

Research in Motion may be a Canadian company and there may be 2 billion GSM users as compared to only 300 million CDMA users, however, as Thought points out, almost two thirds of the money RIM makes is made in the "lower 48", so please RIM and Verizon, tet me get at least one cool new BlackBerry first.

hell no · 2 years ago

"so please RIM and Verizon, tet me get at least one cool new BlackBerry first."

verizon please make sure to "fix" the firmware too, make sure your in CONTROL of everything, and cripple what you aren't in control of, you know like you do with all vzerizon branded phones.

Better hurry though, consumers are waking up to verizon games. Those "lower 48" are upgrading slowly to the freedom of GSM.

That RIM worldwide GSM market looks mighty good.

Thought · 2 years ago

#5: I agree that Verizon definitely exercises excessive control over features on their phones and share your frustration.

However, in spite of that Verizon continues to grow its subscriber base impressively, and in fact this past week it was announced that Verizon had surpassed Cingular/AT&T in postpaid subscribers. They also have higher data revenue per subscriber than Cingular, and have the lowest churn rate in the industry. So I'd say that consumers are still embracing Verizon, largely because of the unsurpassed quality of their network. As an example of that, they just announced a 6 billion dollar investment in network infrastructure this year alone.

So there is no doubt that the Verizon market is a very valuable market for RIM to pursue.