We have to admit we’re having a little bit of trouble believing this one, but according to industry stat-shufflers, GfK, RIM’s BlackBerry range reigned supreme as the most successful smartphone platform in the UK over 2010.
Over a quarter of all smartphone sales
After analysing data from networks and consumer electronics stores, GfK reckon that BlackBerry managed to bag an impressive 28.2% of all smartphone sales in 2010, with RIM enjoying a particularly splendid Christmas period, scooping up 36% of Christmas sales, with over 500,000 shifted.
Over the festive period, TechRadar is reporting that nearly one in two pre-pay handsets and nearly one in four contract deals were for BlackBerry handsets, with the BlackBerry Curve 8520 and new BlackBerry Torch proving particularly irresistible to punters.
RIM releases the facts
The news comes from RIM themselves, but seeing as GfK aren’t the sharing kind, we’re not privvy to the exact figures.
With GfK only interested in selling their data stats to paying punters like RIM, we don’t know how far behind Android and the iPhone were.
That said, we suspect that RIM’s reuctance to share those particular nuggets of information suggests they that weren’t very far behind at all – and we’d bet cold pints of lovely beer that RIM won’t be in the same position next year. Or even in a few months.
A paucity of apps
The phones may be flying out of shops like, err, silt off a shovel, but RIM’s BlackBerry App World is still a bit of a barren affair.
Although the store has grown an impressive 60% since Q2 2010, there’s still less than 17,000 applications on offer – miles behind the massively well stocked app stores of Apple and Android.
Surprised me as well. Still the phone of choice for business users I guess.
Not just business users.
BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) is incredibly popular with teenagers and I know quite a few women in my workplace that are addicted to BBM too. A £130 pay-as-you-go BlackBerry 8520 is an awesome deal, and probably much more affordable to teenagars and their parents than an iPhone or HTC Desire.
Yep the teen thing is certainly a big driver at least in the UK…
What is it with all the app counting. What happened to quality. At the end of the day the iPhone basted out with the App Store and yes it has more apps but really?, have you seen what makes up some of the numbers. Jokey little one use things that hardly represent the measure of a good phone. Any app worth mentioning is on the Android platform and thanks to Google, some are ‘only’ on Android. Android offers everything the iPhone can and more (except a smug, unjustified, feeling of superiority).
Blackberry is in its only bubble and thats not a bad thing. It isnt really the saem thing as the other two main platforms. Yes Jim, its a smartphone but not as we know it! Its roots lie in business and it has invaded the social click very well too as features such as dedicated servers pushing your data around fast and securely, and having a rich integrating communications experience where everything talks to everything else without having to leave where you are, are important to some people too. Im not mad to play angry birds and I dont want to use my phone as a mercury spirit level but it let me fire bewteen 5 email accounts, 5 social networks, 6 instant messengers and so on effortlessly and yet I can also use it to watch video, take good photos, store 32 gb of music, use its sat nav, read app versions of most magazines and newpapers, watch onine TV, radio, use map apps, play the occasional game and so on. It also tethers effortlessly to my netbook. Now provided you can get on with a thumb-keyboard, does it really sound all that bad when it cost half as much as the others, looks tidy, and has oodles of support and community around it????