Blackberry Smartphones Being Traded-In At Record Pace, Thanks iPhone 4S and RIM Outages

Blackberry has been hurt in a double-whammy according to Gazelle the company which purchases gadgets in exchange for cash. Apparently, with the launch of the iPhone 4S and Research In Motion's recent outage fiasco folks have been lining up to get rid of their coveted Blackberries. All we have to ask is, "weren't these things most recently referred to as crackberries." This should remind all boys and girls that crack is wack (our public service announcement).

Honestly, offering $100 gift certificate/credit for premium Blackberry apps isn't the way to regain your image RIM. A little too late, although the thought should be commended.

Here's what Gazelle's Chief Gadget Officer Anthony Scarsella told CNET, "In the grand scheme of BlackBerry growth over the past month, it can be pretty much entirely attributed to the launch of the iPhone 4S," Scarsella said. We definitely are in agreement on this one. And perhaps the limited selection of devices with specs that don't even compare to the iPhone 4S.

Alright not only is Blackberry seeing a higher number of trade-ins but so is Android with an increase of 72 percent more being turned over. Clearly, there hasn't been one single event like RIM's that we can pinpoint as the reason. Consumers want what they want and right now it is Apple Inc. products.

So who is the culprit for turning in Android smartphones? Apparently those who are Sprint subscribers which only makes sense because Sprint has now begun selling the iPhone lineup including the new iPhone 4S.

Make no mistake individuals are also turning in old iPhones of various models to Gazelle as well. There have been about 65,000 iPhone trade-ins so far and by the end of this week Scarsella believes that number will reach 75,000 so all the math geniuses that's 10,000 more iPhones being traded-in.