Research in Motion cracks into the top five cell phone makers, builds out enterprise voice over Wi-Fi, aims for 100 million users, and releases video teaser of BlackBerry OS 6.

RIM joins select group

The global handset market has been dominated by five major players – Nokia, Samsung, LG Electronics, Motorola and Sony Ericsson – for the last five years but, helped by booming smart phone demand, RIM is now in the select group, having displaced Motorola, which has been steadily slipping in market share and struggling to find another hit phone to replace its popular flip-style Razr.

RIM tied with Sony Ericsson for the No. 4 position in IDC's market share rankings with 10.6 million units shipped in the first quarter (January-March). Motorola, which had been in the top five since IDC started tracking quarterly market share in 2004, shipped 8.5 million units.

The worldwide mobile phone market grew 21.7%in the first quarter of 2010, compared to a decline of 16.6% during the first quarter of 2009 when the global economy was in recession, according to market research firm IDC. In total, cell phone makers shipped 294.9 million units in the first quarter of 2010 compared to 242.4 million units in the first quarter of 2009.

"The entrance of RIM into the top five underscores the sustained smartphone growth trend that is driving the global mobile phone market recovery," Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC said in a statement. "This is also the first time a vendor has dropped out of the top five since the second quarter of 2005, when Sony Ericsson grabbed the No. 5 spot from BenQ Siemens."

Aims for 100 million users

As the BlackBerry maker advances into the consumer smart phone market, RIM has set an ambitious goal of 100 million customers, though it has not given a specific timeline. This would more than double its current 41-million-user base.

“Forty-one million customers is what I call a good start,” RIM president and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said during a keynote speech at RIM’s Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando, Florida.

RIM is building its consumer strategy on BlackBerry 6, the newest iteration of its mobile operating system software. The new software is due out next quarter, and is considered by many to be the most consumer-oriented in RIM's history. The big focus will be on aesthetics, with an emphasis on graphics and animation.

It is unclear, however, how this might help grow the BlackBerry’s relatively small applications ecosystem – essential for RIM to go head to head with the iPhone and the Android OS.

RIM releases video teaser of BlackBerry OS 6

Research In Motion released this video teaser for BlackBerry OS 6, a new version of the software that runs their smartphones due out later this year. Here's what you can expect when it launches later this year.

Multi-touch and universal search. Swipe, flick, and use both fingers to pinch and zoom – the virtual keyboard can also find anything with a bit of typing.

New animations and transitions. With the Bold RIM shows us how slick they can make their icons look, now they've created a world for them that moves and is more immersive.

App overhaul. The Media Player which has a whole new look and feel, and there is a new app just for RSS and social networking feeds.

Of note: There are no third-party apps featured or any references to the App World store.

Builds out enterprise voice over Wi-Fi

RIM announced a new version of its Mobile Voice System (MVS) that now supports voice-over-Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) calling. MVS is installed in businesses and enables workers to use their regular desk phone number and extension from their BlackBerry smartphones.

Wi-Fi support is a major about-face for RIM, because while RIM has supported Wi-Fi on a number of BlackBerry devices, they consistently refused to deliver a traditional VoWi-Fi client.

MVS 5 also includes Wi-Fi network access controls, network-preference settings for prioritizing the use of Wi-Fi over cellular for voice, and authentication for authorized BlackBerry access to the corporate network.

As well, session initiation protocol (SIP) has been added to the MVS 5 to enable any SIP-compliant PBX system to connect to the MVS system. Previous versions of the MVS have only been compatible with the Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

MVS 5 is expected to be available later this year.