The increasingly competitive smartphone market is putting the squeeze on handset makers around the world. Even RIM--whose ubiquitous BlackBerry smartphones accounted for half of all smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2009 in the United States--is feeling the heat.

Despite beating expectations with sales of $3.46 billion--up a whopping 84 percent compared to the same quarter in 2008--gross margins were down from 51.4 percent to 40 percent in the same time period. The situation is certainly set to become more dicey for all the players involved. Consumers will certainly benefit now that Apple's older iPhone 3G was cut to a mere $99 and there is a larger selection of devices than ever at rock-bottom prices.

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