Mobile & Wireless
BlackBerry is UK's favourite smartphone, claims RIM
Uses GfK numbers to back up health
By John E Dunn | Techworld | Published 08:01, 01 February 12
According to figures released by RIM, the handset maker has added a third more subscribers to its worldwide base and BlackBerry is still the best selling brand in the UK.
Using figures from marketing group GfK that have not been released in detail, the BlackBerry now has 75 million subscribers worldwide, RIM claimed, a 35 percent rise to December 2011.
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The BlackBerry’s continued success in the UK is particularly marked, accounting for 8.5 million of its subscribers, giving the company a healthy 27.7 percent market share in the country.
At face value, the BlackBerry still has immense appeal. Numbers from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech for the three months to last June put the BlackBerry in second place for sales, not that far behind Android.
In the US by contrast BlackBerry is struggling, losing 1.8 million subscribers in the three months to last September, a sales picture which may partly explain why BlackBerry’s joint chiefs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie bowed to investor pressure recently and resigned.
The struggle of its PlayBook tablet to gain some popularity in the teeth of low popularity has also been a particularly hard challenge for RIM.
