BlackBerry "UK's No 1 smartphone" The latest data shows that the troubled BlackBerry averaged 27.7 per cent market share in 2011, and that it hit 8.5 million UK subscribers. Worldwide the number of subscribers grew by 35 per cent year on year, to 75 million in December 2011, driven by growth among young people and in the developing world. BlackBerry Managing Director for the UK and Ireland, Stephen Bates, said that RIM had dominated pre-paymarket in particular. "We've moved the market up by around 40 per cent by offering a proposition people can see the value in," he said. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, RIM announced the new version of BlackBerry OS7, numbered 7.1, and an update to the PlayBook tablet called PlayBook 2. The company has seen its stock price fall by 75 per cent in a year, and it has missed a series of release deadlines. Recently its co-founders stepped down to make way for a new CEO, but Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie will remain involved in the business. RIM's share of the smartphone market in the US dwindled to 16.6 per cent in the three months to the end of November, according to research firm comScore. "We've learnt a lot from the PlayBook," said Mr Bates, although he conceded "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." Mr Bates said that the PlayBook was designed to extend the existing BlackBerry experience and that it had sold very well over Christmas. BlackBerry is set to release its new BlackBerry 10 operating system for smartphones by the end of the year, although it has missed previous deadlines. "This new operating system is not about the short term," said Mr Bates. 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. He added that BlackBerry's new CEO Thorsten Heins would focus on shipping products on time. This year our fundamental strategic focus is: deliver. We need to prove people wrong and show that we can deliver. Mr Bates said he felt confident about the coming year for RIM. There is no shortage of innovation at BlackBerry - we just have to crack this delivery and Thorsten is a great man for that.