Apple beats Blackberry maker in quarterly smartphone sales

Mateo Alvarez (R), a Verizon representative, helps Ron Katz with the purchase of two iPads at a Verizon store on October 28, 2010 in Coral Gables, Florida. Verizon stores started to sell the popular Apple product today. – AFP Photo

SINGAPORE: Apple has for the first time outpaced Blackberry-maker Research in Motion in global smartphone sales thanks to the success of its iPhone 4, a report said Friday.

Industry tracker IDC said Apple sold 14.1 million iPhone units in the third quarter while Canada’s Research in Motion shipped 12.4 million Blackberry devices.

“The company’s record shipment performance can be attributed to the introduction of the iPhone 4 in 17 new countries last quarter,” said the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Low sales growth creates problems for cement units

LAHORE: Almost all cement units, except four, face problems as the production capacity of domestic cement industry has increased by 14.5 million tons since 2006/07, while the local sales have increased by only 2.5 million tons during the period, according to a study on Saturday.

A study of the cement sector conducted by The News revealed that the sector has been adding capacities since 1995/96 when the total production of cement was 10.173 million tons with the local demand of 9.43 million tons.