The decision of Verizon Wireless to push Motorola Droid so hard was the main reason why RIM is feeling the pressure from Android and the phenomenal iPhone that storms the world.

“Verizon Wireless made clear from the start that its Droid smartphone was designed to put pressure on Apple, the maker of the iPhone, and AT&T, the exclusive U.S. iPhone carrier. As part of a US$100 million marketing push, Verizon Wireless enumerates several ways it believes the Droid outperforms the iPhone.”

RIM has nobody but themselves to blame, as their first touch screen phone, BlackBerry Storm, wasn’t a real good product, and Verizon Wireless seems like got fed up with the sluggish sales of BlackBerry Storm, and Storm 2. Verizon Wireless was a strong backer for RIM’s Storm, but the sales of the Storm haven’t lived up to expectations. This was what cause Verizon Wireless to get on Motorola Droid, and undoubtedly, it worked!

What RIM hopes for now is to sell more phones and earn fewer profit margins. The Verizon Wireless buy-one-get-one-free campaigns were designed to sell more phones for RIM.

“We believe that now is the time to aggressively pursue adoption,” Balsillie said in a conference call on Sept. 25, 2008. That push would come at a cost. Gross margins would fall to 47 percent, from 51 percent the prior quarter, as a result of the decrease in overall handset margins.

It remains to be seen whether this strategy will work for RIM or not. What we know is RIM is definitely not a very comfortable zone right away as they face strong challenges not only from iPhone, but also Google’s Android handsets.

via ZDNet