RIM's Blackberry Ripe in February

The Blackberry Pearl helped Research In Motion (RIMM Quote) maintain its spot as the top smartphone vendor in February, according to a monthly U.S. survey.

FTN Midwest Securities' February survey of retail stores for the top four cellular operators in the U.S. -- Sprint Nextel (S Quote), Verizon (VZ Quote), AT&T (T Quote) and Deutsche Telekom's (DT Quote) T-Mobile unit -- found that RIM had the largest share of mentions from retailers as a top device seller.

RIM claimed three of the top five smartphone device spots in the survey, with the Blackberry Pearl taking the top spot. The Blackberry Curve and RIM's 8830 were the other devices in the top five.

The monthly survey is designed to be representative of the U.S. market from both geographic and market share standpoints with regards to the major wireless carriers, according to FTN. The report analyzes input from 100 service representatives and more than 200 data points.

RIM's share of mentions rose to 53% in February from 47% the month before and 26% a year earlier. FTN said in the survey that it maintains its bullish outlook for the smartphone category, and that RIM remains a favorite because of the company's strong enterprise base and increasing penetration of the consumer and international markets.

RIM shares recently were rising $2.27, or 2.4%, to $95.86.

FTN said that the bulk of the increase in RIM mentions came from Verizon, where the share of responses jumped to 71% from 52% in January.

HTC and Samsung also saw a rise in mentions, with the latter benefiting from strength of its Blackjack II smartphone.

On the other hand, Palm (PALM Quote), Taiwan's HTC, Motorola (MOT Quote), LG and Apple's (AAPL Quote) iPhone saw a monthly decline in their respective share of mentions.

"Surprisingly, the iPhone also slid for the second consecutive month in our survey, garnering 1% of mentions versus 7% last month and 14% in December," the survey read. "The decline in the iPhone appears to be a result of increased competition at AT&T from lower-priced devices, including RIM's Curve and Pearl (both $99.99), Samsung's Blackjack II ($99.99), and HTC's Tilt ($299.99)."

FTN said that smartphones' fashionable status, coupled with lower price points, has helped drive their adoption by nonbusiness consumers. The report also said that the ongoing build-out of next-generation data networks by the major U.S. wireless carriers, as well as the introduction of new devices and services, provides a strong underpinning for secular growth.