Back in August, I tracked down the source for IDC's Top Ten List of Smartphones and wrote about the experience which was transparent and interesting. What started out as little fact checking mission turned into finding out what news source got the list from IDC first and why. All I wanted to do was to get the list from the original source and let the world know that the BlackBerry Curve was the top smartphone.
I received this request today in an email:
Howdy!
I'm writing in response to your recent post, here:
http://www.wirelessandmobilenews.com/2009/08/blackberrycurvetopstoptenussmartphonesshipped4salesfromidcfast_furious.html
Thanks for the citation! I'm just writing to request that you update
your post with a link to our slideshow with this information, here:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/top-selling-smartphones-united-states-second-quarter
Thanks so much!
Mike.
Mike
Dano
Managing
Editor
FierceMarkets
Wireless Group
FierceWireless is a great email newsletter with a website. They really know the business and I've heard they throw great parties and events at CTIA.
The way I found the IDC Top Ten List of Smartphones, however, was not originally from FierceWireless but from GigaOm. Then I tracked it down to Ramon Llamas who insisted I cite FierceWireless.
Here are list of other news sources with the IDC Top 10 smartphones listed.
T-Mobile Forums copied the list and added or used the original pics from FierceWireless.
RIMarkable cited the source as Venture Beat.
Eric Zeman at Information Week
questioned the figures, wondering if it was unfair for lumping all the
BlackBerry Curve models together but not the iPhone and IPhone 3G.
Tech Republic folded the IDC info into an article with other stats from other sources.
Latitude Project Blog, published the list and then linked back to an earlier IDC news release that didn't contain the information.
BlackBerry Cool did a backwards numerical count of the information with prices and carrier information.
Smartphone Cool published the same list as BlackBerry Cool of IDC's top smartphones.
JK On the Run cited IDC, then listed the smartphones and the makers.
Out
of all the IDC Top Ten Smartphone listers, I could find on a Google search, Wireless and Mobile News
was the only one to cite FierceWireless in the first place, because I
took the time to trace the report to the original source who was Ramon
Llamas. This
whole thing would have been a lot easier if IDC released the
information in a standard news release, like everyone else does.