The Five Best-Selling Consumer Smartphones

The BlackBerry Curve (Curve 8830 shown) has beaten out the Apple iPhone to become the nation's best-selling smartphone among consumers for the first quarter, according to data released by market research firm The NPD Group.

According to the report, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) aggressive "buy one get one" sales promotion through Verizon Wireless helped the Curve snag the top spot, which boosted RIM's consumer smartphone market share another 15 percent to nearly half of the U.S. consumer smartphone market in the first quarter of 2009. RIM's boom comes as Apple's and Palm's share each declined 10 percent.

"Verizon Wireless' aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base contributed to RIM capturing three of the top five positions," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at The NPD Group. "The more familiar, and less expensive, Curve benefited from these giveaways and was able to leapfrog the iPhone, due to its broader availability on the four major U.S. national carriers."

Here's a look at the five best-selling consumer smartphones in the first quarter.

The BlackBerry Curve (all 8300 series models) trampled the competition to take the top spot as the best-selling consumer smartphone for the first quarter of 2009. The 8300 series, which launched in 2007, comprises popular models like the 8310, 8320, 8350 and 8350i (shown).

The Curve, which is available through most major carriers in the U.S., ties together form and function, offering a full QWERTY keyboard, trackball navigation and access to a host of standard BlackBerry functions, like push e-mail and calendaring, voice, Bluetooth connectivity, camera, video and more. Some Curve 8300 models also feature GPS.

The success of the Curve illustrates that BlackBerry is breaking out of its business-only past and gaining stronger traction for consumers.

Apple's now-iconic iPhone 3G took the No. 2 spot among the five best-selling consumer smartphones. The AT&T exclusive iPhone 3G blazed the trail for touch-screen smartphones and mobile application integration with its July 2008 release and has since sold roughly 20 million devices globally.

The 3G iPhone ties in countless features and functions, including Wi-Fi, GPS, mobile Web, multimedia and more, but its Apple's App Store and the mobile applications that push it to the forefront for consumers, who can download games and other popular applications with a quick tap.

The BlackBerry Storm, the first touch-screen BlackBerry, made its debut on Verizon Wireless' network late last year. Considered BlackBerry's official attempt to combat the iPhone in the clash of touch-screen titans, the Storm got off to a rocky start, but has since sold well over 1 million devices.

The Storm features a 3.25-inch "clickable" touch-screen display with 480-x-360 resolution. Additional features include a 3.2-megapixel camera, video recording, GPS and traditional BlackBerry functions.

Since making its debut in 2006, the BlackBerry Pearl has made waves among consumer smartphone users. Now, the Pearl (excluding the Pearl Flip) takes the No. 4 spot among the five best-selling consumer smartphones for the first quarter, proving its staying power.

The Pearl was the first BlackBerry to feature a trackball. The compact handheld ties the BlackBerry smartphone experience into a consumer-focused candy bar form-factor, wrapping together phone, camera, e-mail, Web browsing, instant messaging, multimedia and organizer in one small package.

The Pearl 8110 is shown here.

The first device released featuring the open-source Google Android mobile operating system, the HTC-built T-Mobile G1 hit the market last October and for the quarter placed fifth on the list of top-selling consumer smartphones.

The touch-screen G1 integrates with most Google applications and offers access to the Android Market, a mobile application storefront. The 3G smartphone also wraps in multimedia functions like a music player, camera and YouTube video player, while also offering access to push e-mail. The device also features a slide-out physical keyboard. Last month, T-Mobile said the G1 has sold one million units.