PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, May 4, 2009 – According to The NPD Group, a leader in wireless industry market research, an aggressive “buy-one-get-one” promotion by Verizon Wireless helped RIM’s BlackBerry Curve move past Apple’s iPhone to become the best-selling consumer smartphone in the U.S. in the first quarter (Q1) of 2009.  RIM’s consumer smartphone market share increased 15 percent to nearly 50 percent of the smartphone market in Q1 2009 versus the prior quarter, as Apple’s and Palm’s share both declined 10 percent each.

Based on U.S. consumer sales of smartphone handsets in NPD’s “Smartphone Market Update” report, the first-quarter 2009 ranking of the top-five best-selling smartphones is as follows:

1. RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)
2. Apple iPhone 3G (all models)
3. RIM BlackBerry Storm
4. RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except flip)
5. T-Mobile G1

“Verizon Wireless’s aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base contributed to RIM capturing three of the top five positions,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at The NPD Group. “The more familiar, and less expensive, Curve benefited from these giveaways and was able to leapfrog the iPhone, due to its broader availability on the four major U.S. national carriers.”

Smartphones, which represented just 17 percent of handset sales volume in Q1 2008, now make up 23 percent of sales. “Even in this challenging economy, consumers are migrating toward Web-capable handsets and their supporting data plans to access more information and entertainment on the go.” Rubin said.

Methodology: The NPD Group compiles and analyzes mobile device sales data based on more than 150,000 completed online consumer research surveys each month. Surveys are based on a nationally balanced and demographically representative sample, and results are projected to represent the entire population of U.S. consumers. Note: Sales figures do not include corporate/enterprise mobile phone sales.

Original article can be found here.

When I received the phone, it came with 4.7.0.75 version of the OS. This is an updated version which was supposed to fix some of the initial bugs when the first batches were first released. In the course of two months, a few beta updates were leaked out that fixed more bugs and made the phone better and faster. The most noticeable fix was for the quick response of the accelerometer (it orients the phone in landscape or portrait mode). Recently, RIM announced the latest official OS update of the Storm 9530, the 4.7.0.122. It was for Bell Mobility customers but would also work with Verizon Wireless. I currently have it on my phone.

To get a better view of this phone I will list my likes and dislikes.

Likes:

• slick black device
• easy email integration
• nice button layout
• fast accelerometer
• usable browser
• 3G connection cut out right away when app is closed (compare that with WinMo devices)
• contact list
• phone dialer (i like the big buttons)
• decent video/photo resolution
• good voice quality and an okay speaker
• huge community of Blackberry users
• RIM is frequently releasing updates for this phone (I had to wait a year to get some bug fixes on my old WinMo phone)

Dislikes:

• SurePress Touch Screen!!! If it wasn’t for this most annoying feature of the phone, I’d give the Storm a grade of 100%. I will never get used to it and unfortunately I have to interact with the touch screen to use the phone. I always mistype words and typing is painfully slow!

If I get a better touch screen, I will keep this phone oherwise iPhone will be my next mobile phone when they come to Verizon.

I need to replace my cell phone soon. Carmela chewed it up and shorted the earpiece. The phone still works but I have to put it on speaker everytime I’m on a call. I currently have a HTC XV6800 with Windows Mobile 6.1 and unlocked GPS. Yeah, Verizon, thanks for locking GPS on our phones! Anyway, so I need a replacement PDA phone. I would get the iPhone if Verizon carries them. Since that’s out of my options, the only PDA phones that are worth getting right now is either the Blackberry Storm or the Samsung Omnia. Both phones have their own strength and weaknesses aside from the fact that the Omnia runs on WinMo and the Storm on RIM’s more stable platform. The Storm touted to be the first Blackberry with touch screen and an iPhone killer, but with its half baked software and multiple bugs when it was released, it was a perfect storm for a lot of early adopters. Although there were a few leaked updates that supposed to fix these bugs and make the phone more responsive and enjoyable to use. I could take that risk as I’ve heard, RIM is pretty good on supporting their devices. Samsung Omnia on the other hand runs on a dated OS but they try to cover it up with their custom user interface called the TouchWiz. It still can’t hide the fact that it is running on Windows OS which is a turn off to some.

I actually had a chance to play with both phones side by side at a Verizon store. At first glance, the sleek looking Blackberry Storm looks more appealing than the Samsung Omnia. But the Omnia is narrower and easier to hold in my hand. The screen resolution on the Storm is definitely much brighter than the Omnia, thanks to its 480×360 high resolution TFT display. Because I’m a long time WinMo user, it’s easy for me to get used to the Omnia. I’ve never used a Blackberry before but it didn’t take long for me to get used to it. The look and feel of the UI on the Storm is simpler and nicer in my opinion. Some of the features on the Omnia (which I blame on the OS) are not really meant to be touched by finger like for example the X button that closes the window. This is why Samsung decided to add a dongling lipstick style stylus on this phone. Yes, it dongles because there’s no storage room for the stylus. Thankfully, the Omnia comes with an optical mouse that is easy to use and very responsive so you might not need a stylus after all. As far as the touch screen goes, I believe this is a user preference.  The Storm features the SurePress touch screen, which is supposed to be the biggest selling point of this phone. The screen acts like a big button. When touching the menus, it does not actually do anything until you press it. The same thing goes when typing on the screen keyboard. I have a mixed feeling with this feature. I played with it for a bit and this is something that I need to get used to. I’m not sure if I’m gonna like it in the long run. The Omnia has the normal touch screen similar to the iPhone.

Honestly, I’m leaning towards the Omnia but what kills it for me is the Samsung’s proprietary port for audio, data and power. This means, every time I want to use an earphone or charge the phone I would need to bring all these cable adapters. I had an old Samsung SCH-i600 and I hated the port on that phone. I don’t get it why Samsung didn’t use the standard USB port. The Storm is not a bad choice either but the wide profile of the phone might not do it for me. Plus, I’m not really a huge fan of the SurePress touch screen.

The things that I din’t really care much about are:

- High 5.0 megapixels camera on Omnia vs the 3.2 on Storm – if I want a high quality photo, I’ll use my DSLR

- WiFi on the Omnia and none on the Storm – who needs WiFi when you have a 3G

- FM radio w/ RDS on the Omnia – the only place I’ll use this is… oh, I don’t need it

Update: I ordered the Blackberry Storm on Feb 12 from Verizon and received it on the Feb 16. Checkout my latest review after 2 months of hands-on time with the phone.