RIM claim Blackberry are No1 seller in UK

Research In Motion had a rough year in 2011, but it appears that they have escaped unscathed in the United Kingdom. According to the company themselves, their handsets claimed the number 1 spot.

Data released has highlighted that Blackberry have averaged 27.7 percent market share in 2011 and have now 8.5 million UK subscribers. Across the world, their subscribers list grew by 35 percent to around 75 million in December 2011.

Stephen Bates, the BlackBerry Managing Director for UK/Ireland spoke to The Telegraph saying “We’ve moved the market up by around 40 per cent by offering a proposition people can see the value in”.

Blackberry are facing tough times however, as their stock price has dropped by 75 percent in 12 months and they have failed to meet several important deadlines. Their joint CEO team of Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis stepped down several weeks ago to make way for a new management team.

Research In Motion face a tough market in the US, as their share in the smartphone market dropped to 16.6 percent in the three months to the end of November. These figures were posted by analytics organisation ComScore.

Research In Motion have lost over £45 billion of value in the last 4 years.

Stephen Bates added “We’ve learnt a lot from the PlayBook. 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.”

A lot is riding on the upcoming operating system – Blackberry V10. Bates claims that the plan is long term, not a ‘short term fix'. “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.”

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