T-Mobile USA data highlights consumer appeal of BlackBerry Pearl

T-Mobile USA Inc. offered data this week purporting to demonstrate the consumer appeal of the Research In Motion Ltd. BlackBerry Pearl.
The tidbits suggest that the Pearl-designed to appeal to consumers, yet equipped for enterprise use through IT-based controls over its features-is luring consumers to smartphone use and that e-mail seems to be part of the attraction.
Almost three out of four customers who purchased a Pearl traded up from a basic mobile phone rather than a converged device, according to the carrier. The majority of T-Mobile USA’s Pearl customers use the device for personal rather than corporate e-mail. And 96 percent of the carrier’s Pearl owners send personal e-mail on a weekly basis.
The data suggest that Pearl purchasers are doing what carriers and device vendors dream of: upgrading to a more expensive phone, going with phones that offer a browser and multimedia and using data applications such as e-mail.
The undisclosed sales volumes of the Pearl at T-Mobile USA might be enlightening for many reasons. One angle of importance to handset vendors: T-Mobile USA has sold the Pearl at $200-its launch price-throughout the holiday season without discounting it, according to pricing data tabulated by RCR Wireless News. Sales of significant volumes of devices priced in the mid- to high-tier range-as opposed to the plethora of subsidized devices on offer from free to $50-may bode well for average selling prices and profit margins, both of which are generally trending downward.
Naturally, T-Mobile USA’s partial data on the Pearl are self-serving; the carrier launched a new model, in white, today.
The Pearl first launched at T-Mobile USA in September 2006 and appeared at Cingular Wireless L.L.C. on Dec. 1.
T-Mobile counted 1.4 million converged device users, which includes BlackBerry and Sidekick subscribers. The number represents a net increase of
172,000 users in the third quarter of 2006.