Palm Centro boosts Palm marketshare, RIM sees BlackBerry market share rise, Apple loses in iPhone market

Just as we’re getting ready to write-off the aging Palm (NSDQ: PALM) OS and make room in our hearts for the next-generation Palm OS, Palm goes and regains some lost ground in the smartphone market.
Palm has apparently seen its smartphone market-share rise to 13.4%, up from 7.9% in Q4 2007. The popular Palm Centro is credited for helping boost the ailing smartphone manufacturer’s market-share.

RIM, makers of the popular push-emailing BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) lineup of smartphones, has also seen a rise in smartphone market-share. RIM saw their BlackBerry smartphones take 44.5% of the smartphone market, up from 35.1% in Q4 2007.

But, there’s always two sides to every story. While RIM and Palm saw their market-share increase, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) saw its market-share slide. The iPhone took a healthy US smartphone market-share of 26.7% in the fourth quarter last year. But, it seems that RIM and Palm’s success has eaten in to the iPhone’s niche. The iPhone accounted for just 19.2% of smartphones sales in the first quarter of 2008, compared to  26.7% of sales in Q4 2007.

And, to keep the increased market-share festivities at bay, it should be noted that both RIM and Palm have seen their sales of their smartphones plummet from the same period a year ago. Still, a win is a win in our book. Way to go, Palm and RIM.

[Via: CNN Money]