Even BlackBerry Ltd couldn't resist taking a jab at the world's most popular phone.
Over the past seven years, Apple Inc's iPhone has wrested the smartphone market from BlackBerry, reducing the once- dominant device maker to less than 1 per cent of global shipments as of March. Yet BlackBerry, introducing its new Passport device for business customers today, saw an opening emerge from user complaints that the newest iPhones get bent and warped in people's pockets.
"I would challenge you guys to bend our Passport," John Chen, BlackBerry's chief executive officer, said at an event on Wednesday in Toronto.
The reports of bending iPhones follow record demand for the devices, with over 10 million sold in their debut last weekend. At the fan site MacRumors, a member named hanzoh wrote this week that the phone was "slightly bent after 2 days" in a front suit pocket. Numerous other iPhone owners reported similar concerns on the site.
Apple didn't immediately respond to a phone call and e-mail seeking comment.
