BlackBerry: the UK’s best-selling smartphone?

 

Manufacturer RIM says BlackBerry accounted for 26% of smartphone sales in December.

BlackBerry is Britain’s best-selling smartphone brand, its manufacturer has said.

According to figures from Research In Motion (RIM), compiled by market research group GfK, BlackBerry handsets beat sales of both iPhone and Android devices in December.

On average across the whole year, BlackBerry claimed 28% of the UK smartphone market in 2011, which RIM says makes it the biggest-selling brand for a second year running.

However, a recent industry survey by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech found BlackBerry was the third best-selling smartphone brand in Britain, after Apple’s iPhone and those powered by Google’s mobile operating system, Android.

The independent study showed BlackBerry accounted for 16% of all UK smartphone sales in the run-up to Christmas. Apple came second with a share of 34%, while Android handsets took the crown, controlling 44% of the market overall.

RIM has seen its US market share shrink to just 16% in recent months, compared to just under 50% for mobiles using Android and 28% running Apple’s iOS (iPhone operating system). The company’s value has dropped by more than £45billion since peaking in 2008.

Last week, RIM’s founders Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie stepped down as joint chief executives. Their departure followed a series of missed release deadlines and the company’s share price falling 75% in 12 months.

The new BlackBerry 10 operating system is scheduled for launch by the end of 2012, which Stephen Bates, managing director for the UK and Ireland at RIM, hopes this could help turn the company’s fortunes around.

“This is not about the short term. This is about us getting fit for the next 10-15 years. Yes, we want to be quicker with new capabilities; yes, we want to add new things; yes, I would love them to come faster. But the reality is that some of this stuff is hard.

He said BlackBerry’s future would be about quality products being shipped on time. “Our fundamental strategic focus is ‘deliver’. We need to prove people wrong and show that we can deliver.”

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