While BlackBerry may be quickly losing ground to the competition here in North America (and worldwide, for that matter), they’re still doing fine in the UK, according to a recent study by GfK Group. RIM’s lineup beat out Apple’s by claiming 28.2% of UK smartphone sales for 2010, which includes moving 500,000 units over the holidays (36% of smartphone sales in the season). For Christmas sales, that worked out to nearly one in every two handsets bought on pre-paid and almost one in for on contract, with the Curve 8520 and the Torch being the most popular choices.
RIM’s greatest opportunities currently remain outside of the U.S., which they have had no qualms about emphasizing. That might come off as brazenly dismissing a market where iPhone and Android have taken root, and RIM may fall victim to something of a refused flank maneuver; while RIM tries to spread out evenly and address everyone, the big players pushing hard in one strategically-advantageous market, which eventually overflows into others. I still hope that setting up the distribution channels and strengthening their position internationally will pay off in the long run, but despite the research numbers, I still have a feeling if BlackBerry loses enough popularity in the U.S., a lot of the world (especially English-speaking countries like the UK) will follow suit.