BlackBerry remains UK’s best selling smartphone for second consecutive year

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Research In Motion has claimed that its BlackBerry handsets have emerged as the best selling smartphone in the UK market for the second consecutive year.

The BlackBerry maker presented data that showed 8.5 million subscribers used the devices in this time, while the phone averaged 27.7 per cent market share during the 12-month period.

Worldwide the number of subscribers grew by 35 per cent year on year, to 75 million in December 2011, driven by growth among young people and in the developing world.

BlackBerry Managing Director for the UK and Ireland, Stephen Bates, said that RIM had dominated pre-paymarket in particular.

“We’ve moved the market up by around 40 per cent by offering a proposition people can see the value in,” The Telegraph quoted Bates, as saying.

RIM's share of the smartphone market in the US dwindled to 16.6 per cent in the three months to the end of November, according to research firm comScore.

That compares to just under 50 per cent for phones using Google’s Android operating system and 28.7 per cent for Apple. RIM has lost just over 70 billion dollars of value since its market capitalisation peaked in 2008.

“We’ve learnt a lot from the PlayBook,” said Bates, although he conceded “if you don’t have a BlackBerry then it’s not the tablet for you, if you’ve got an Apple you’re more likely to buy an iPad, Android users are more likely to buy an Android-based tablet.”

Bates said that the PlayBook was designed to extend the existing BlackBerry experience and that it had sold very well over Christmas.