According to the latest research carried out by several independent market researchers, RIM BlackBerry and iPhone continues to rule the qwerty cell phone/smartphone market slowly but steadily pushing Palm and HTC out. It is likely that the tendency will remain the same into 2009. However, Palm and HTC doesn’t seem to give up.

HTC will survive because credit crunch is not so bad in Asia, they keep launching new and better qwerty cell phone models. Still regardless of all the efforts their market share increases on a very slow rate. Let’s hope it will improve next year. Meanwhile, Palm - one of the oldest and best hand-held device manufacturer - faces problems. They losses increase on the background of the global credit crunch and unsatisfying qwerty cell phone sales.

Yet, there is a ray of light for Palm. They have just secured a hefty $100 million investment from an independent investors at Elevation. It is something to start with and will help Palm to survive, still they have accumulated an enormous $506 million loss in the second quarter alone. It is outrageous and it will really be a miracle if Palm steers out of the crisis. It would be very sad to see Palm go.

We need more and better competitors to make qwerty cell phones and smartphones better and cheaper. If a big player like Palm goes down, it will give Apple iPhone and RIM BlackBerry more space, bring the quality down and the prices up.

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