Victor said this right! It was Verizon and RIM’s trick that made BlackBerry phones the #1 selling phone in the first quarter of 2009. If you have not heard about the trick, it was the “buy one get one FREE,” offer on all BlackBerry phones. That was not a bad strategy, but a desperate one to lure smartphone freaks. 

The offer has ended and so seems the sales record too. Lately, the iPhone 3GS has stolen the limelight with Palm Pre following. RIM shipped a record of 7.8 million units of BlackBerries in the first quarter and Apple just managed shipping only 3.79 million units of iPhone 3G in the same period. 

Well, half of those BlackBerries sold were given away for free (buy one get one free). This brings the actual sales not much more than the number of iPhones sold. Since the launching of the Palm Pre  and the iPhone 3GS thereafter, BlackBerry Curve, BlackBerry Storm and the Pearl seem to have vanished into thin air. Good that Eric Schmidt at least showed that the Curve is still alive. 

In three days, Apple sold one million units of iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 3GS is getting star attention wherever it is launched. I am now curious to know how many units would be sold on completion of a month. It is time again to say a sad goodbye to BlackBerries and welcome the iPhone3GS or the Palm  Pre.