BlackBerry is the bestselling smartphone brand in Britain for the second year running, according to the latest figures from research firm GfK.
The Canadian manufacturer RIM said the GfK figures show BlackBerry averaged a 27.7% share of the market during 2011 and had 26.3% of December sales.
RIM said it had more than eight and a half million active subscribers in the UK by the end of 2011, but did not give comparable figures for 2010. However, it said its global subscriber base increased by 35% year on year in December to 75 million.
The manufacturer's forthcoming plans include an update to its BlackBerry 7.1 OS, which includes features such as the ability to turn a BlackBerry into a mobile hotspot that can be shared by up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices. The PlayBook 2.0 is also due to hit the market in February.