iPhone market share down in Q1

The iPhone saw its share of the U.S. smart phone market drop in the first quarter of 2008, according to an IDC vendor survey. After garnering a 26.7 percent share of the market in the fourth quarter of 2007, the iPhone took only 19.2 percent of the market in Q1 2008. Both BlackBerry maker RIM and Palm saw gains in the first quarter, with RIM going from 35.1 percent in Q4 ‘07 to 44.5 percent in Q1 ‘08, and Palm grabbing 13.4 percent in Q1, up from 7.9 percent in the prior quarter. IDC analyst Ramon Llamas suggests that RIM’s gains may be attributed to growth in the “prosumer” segment, while Palm’s gains came mostly from the strength of its Centro phone.