Earnings Preview: BlackBerry Still Smartphone Champ

With all of the talk about the new iPhone and the Palm Pre, it’s easy to forget that BlackBerry is still the smartphone market share leader.

Research in Motion, BlackBerry’s parent company, will announce its quarterly earnings Thursday. Analysts are expecting a strong showing from the Canadian giant. Forecasts have called for a revenue increase of more than 50 percent and for earnings to be up 12 percent from the previous quarter.

RIM has been able to build market share even as competitors release flashy, new and updated phones. The BlackBerry Storm opened to mostly negative reviews, so the company must have something figured out to keep its strong standing. In the first quarter of ’09, BlackBerry’s comprised more than half of the market, compared to just 20 percent for the iPhone.