Smartphone Maker Winners and Losers: Apple

Makers of smartphones traded mixed Friday as the newest version of Apple's (AAPL) iPhone went on sale and analysts saw competition as a bigger threat to BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIMM).

RIM shares slid $3.77, or 4.9%, to close at $72.78, while Apple shares rose $3.60, or 2.7%, to $139.48.

Rival Palm (PALM), whose much-anticipated Pre phone debuted earlier this month, jumped 87 cents, or 6.7%, to $13.93.

Analysts have touted the Pre as troubled Palm's "make-or-break" phone. It has gotten solid reviews from analysts and media. Pacific Crest analyst James Faucette said earlier this week that he expects more than 500,000 Pre shipments in the quarter ending in August, with 2.8 million total shipments in its 2010 fiscal year ending next August. Further, its operating system, intended as the platform for more Palm phones, makes the company a takeover target, he said.

The market is starting to view Palm as a "legitimate competitor" in the smartphone sector because of the Pre and WebOS operating system, said Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu. On Research in Motion's earnings conference call late Thursday, Palm was brought up as a competitor several times, which is something new, he said.

Palm's stock earlier this week hit its highest point since January 2002 at $15.25.

On the other hand, RIM's 7.8 million BlackBerry shipments in its fiscal first quarter were short of expectations, said Wu. The Toronto-based company's promise to sell between 8.1 million and 8.7 million new units in the current quarter also disappointed analysts, who had hoped for sales of between 8.5 million and 8.9 million phones.