Apple Marketing Hitting RIM in Visibility Stakes
ChangeWave's latest IT purchasing survey shows an even greater pullback occurring in corporate spending - both for the current quarter so far and for the next 90 days going forward.
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RIM vs Apple vs Palm
At the same time, the Apple iPhone is beginning to gain traction in the corporate marketplace even as RIM maintains a big market share lead.
The survey of 1,947 respondents involved with IT spending in their organization was conducted August 11-21.
Corporate Smart Phones: Research In Motion Holds its Lead
In the same survey ChangeWave also focused on corporate smart phone buying, and here Research In Motion (79%) continues to overshadow its two main competitors in terms of planned 4th Quarter purchases - but they note that it's down a full 3-pts from the record high it registered in May.
Note that that ChangeWave also picked up weaker visibility for RIM in their most recent consumer smart phone survey (June 2008). Thus, at least momentarily, RIM appears to be confronted with visibility issues on both the consumer and corporate fronts.
While the success of RIM's upcoming new product launches could put most of these issues to rest, the first new RIM launch - the Bold - is still not yet available in the U.S. When you place this in the context of the current 'take no prisoners' stock market, RIM could be in for a bumpy ride with investors short term - until they have some proof that RIM's new products are being successfully brought to market.
Apple (17%), on the other hand, continues to show considerable momentum in terms of corporate planned purchases - up 4-pts from previously. In short, while recent ChangeWave consumer surveys have shown the 3G iPhone having a huge impact on consumer demand, the current results show the iPhone is beginning to gain real traction in the corporate market as well.
In yet another positive for Apple, 19% report the release of the 3G iPhone has made their company More Likely to purchase Apple products in the future - only 1% say Less Likely. Thus, the 3G iPhone release appears to be having a positive 'halo effect' in terms of improved overall corporate purchasing intentions for Apple products in general.
Posted to the site on 27th August 2008
