Over 8m Britons use BlackBerry

RIM reveals milestone following BBM Music launch in the UK.

The firm has had a rough ride recently, reporting challenging financials, and facing a deluge of analyst criticism. To top all that, consumers in the US and Canada have filed lawsuits against RIM following its worldwide power outages.

But there’s no doubt that – strategic corporate concerns aside – the handset maker still commands huge consumer appeal. It will be very gratified that more than eight million UK consumers are still willing to use the BlackBerry service.

BlackBerry devices were originally designed for the business audience but the firm has seen huge popularity among younger consumers thanks to BlackBerry Messenger.

Rivals including Samsung and Apple have noticed this, which has led to the creation of their own instant messaging services leaving RIM without a niche anymore.

A further blow comes as analyst Gartner confirmed the company's US market share had fallen to ten per cent in Q3, which is the lowest to date.