BOSTON—Research In Motion Ltd. has lost traction in the mobile e-mail market this year, but will likely continue to increase subscribers, according to a report from Strategy Analytics.
The survey found the BlackBerry’s market share dipped five points to 59 percent in the first half of 2006, as RIM settled a long-running dispute with patent-holding company NTP Inc. But the installed base of mobile e-mail users is expected to double this year, the market research firm said, as open-source software and hosted exchange servers fuel growth and mobile e-mail gains mass-market traction.
Meanwhile, the BlackBerry will continue to be the device of choice for high-end mobile e-mail users, the firm predicted.
“We see both ASP models and the advent of standards as critical, long-term enablers that will put a good mobile e-mail experience well within reach of the average business user,” said Cliff Raskind, Strategy Analytics’ director of wireless enterprise strategies service. “RIM should succeed in protecting the high end of the market they now own if they continue to execute well. These trends present a larger threat to Visto, Intellisync and Seven’s 19 percent ‘carrier white label’ share of the market.”
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