The 1%: RIM's Global Tablet Marketshare

Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie are a part of what the Occupy movement calls "the 1%." It's not a bad place to be. But as for their company? Turns out, RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook is in a different kind of 1%—global marketshare. Not so good.

Indeed, market research firm IDC released a report today revealing that—despite myriad insane price cuts that cost RIM $500 million—the tablet's marketshare still shrunk considerably, from a paltry 1.1% to a pathetic 0.7%. The discounts, which tore up RIM's balance sheet and share price at once, couldn't even retain the device's already nominal marketshare.

Meanwhile, Android tablets are finally gaining ground on Apple's legendary iPad. Combining the dozens of Android tablets, Google's platform is poised to capture up to 40% of the global tablet market by year's end. A major driving force for this growth is Amazon's Kindle Fire. At $199, it's value is undeniably high, although it's currently limited to America.

RIM shipped 500,000 PlayBooks in its opening quarter, a promising start. But this number tanked to just 200,000 in an anemic second quarter, and—again, despite 60% off sales at nearly every retailer—shipped an embarrassing 150,000 units.

RIM was recently named, alongside the equally wounded Netflix, as one of five brands likely to die by 2015.