Torch 9800 most satisfying smart phone from BlackBerry

TORONTO - The sales of the BlackBerry Torch 9800, which were initially hit by its high price, have picked up after reduction in its price by half early this month.

With AT&T reducing the Torch 9800 price from $199 to $99 two weeks ago, the sales of the latest BlackBerry smart phone have zoomed in the US market which it once ruled till the rivals came.

“AT&T’s price cut of the Torch to $99 in mid November has stimulated sell-through, including upgrades and new users,” said Mike Abramsky, a market analyst with RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) Capital Markets, in a report Monday.

According to the report, the price cut has catapulted the BlackBerry Torch 9800 to the second best-selling smartphone on the AT&T network only after the iPhone.

The Canadian analyst also points to a smartphone user survey by ChangeWave Research which shows that 64 percent people say they are very satisfied with the new BlackBerry smartphone, though the iPhone continues to lead with as many as 84 percent expressing satisfaction with the Apple device.

Considering that the BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Curve scored only 48 percent and 40 percent on the satisfaction levels, users have found the BlackBerry Torch to be the most satisfying device from the Research In Motion (RIM) to this date.

But Android smart phones by Verizon still continue to cut into the BlackBerry market, the analyst warns.

Furthermore, Apple’s CDMA-based iPhone planned for the US market next year may make more inroads into the BlackBerry market share.

But despite all this, RIM is expected to ship 5.4 million BlackBerry smart phones in the current quarter, according to the analyst.

RIM had shipped a record 12 million smart phones in the last quarter posted a net income of $796.7 million.

(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)