RIM harvests a bumper crop of BlackBerrys

The number of BlackBerry subscribers has topped the three million mark, with one million subscribers added in less than six months, Research in Motion (RIM) has claimed.

RIM began selling its pager-sized BlackBerrys in 1999, and now the device has been transformed into a mobile phone/PDA with a miniature Qwerty keypad, available in 40 countries. It took RIM five years to reach the first million subscribers, and a further 10 months to double that, but now sales are really taking off, according to the vendor.

Lee Underwood, commercial relationships manager at RIM, said: "The growth spurt has occurred for numerous reasons, including acceptance of the device among business users and consumers, the work we've been doing with new carriers, and our growth in new countries."

Dan Hitchen, marketing manager at corporate VAR Basilica, said the firm makes use of the devices in-house, as well as selling them to end-users.

"We've deployed about 70 BlackBerry devices across our workforce. The engineering team find them particularly useful, and several staff are trialling the new 7100 phone-size handset," Hitchen said.

"The sales momentum has increased and I think the growth will continue for a while. As BlackBerry becomes more of a commodity, prices will drop, but resellers can make margins through the airtime provider. We're with T-Mobile, which has a rebate scheme based on the number and type of airtime contracts we sell."

John Carter, managing director of distributor DMSL, said: "The market for BlackBerry is growing. The trouble is the IT channel isn't getting much of a look-in. It tends to be the mobile operators that are selling the devices.

"However, there is soon going to be a huge explosion of mobile email. Microsoft has been making noises that it wants to destroy BlackBerry, which should provide opportunities for IT resellers to get on board."

laura_hailstone@vnu.co.uk