Comscore: RIM’s BlackBerry In Free Fall With No Net In Sight

Six months of U.S. smartphone market share data neatly underscores why Research in Motion is scrambling to get new products out the door: it has tumbled all the way to the third-most prevalent mobile operating system in the U.S. despite commanding a sizable lead in late 2010.

Comscore’s latest market-share numbers paint a grim picture for RIM and its flagship BlackBerry smartphone. Google long ago surpassed RIM to become the leading mobile operating system in the U.S., but RIM has now even fallen behind Apple without Apple having released a significant new phone since the launch of the iPhone 4 last summer. Apple’s edge is quite slight, but it seems likely to expand given that RIM has lost nearly 8 points of share over the last six months, and RIM’s latest BlackBerry 7 phones aren't scheduled to arrive until “this summer.”