GEC NEWS WIREAccording to research, BlackBerry was the #3 best-selling brand in the UAE in August this year
With smartphone penetration in the Middle East amongst the highest in the world, it is expected that growth will be faster than the EMEA average over the next five years. The UAE is ranked amongst the top markets for smartphone subscribers and this trend is seen continuing as populations grow and people transition from feature phones to smart devices.
The Middle East also continues to be one of the strongest regions for BlackBerry globally, and BlackBerry remains highly competitive in the smartphone market in this region. According to data provided by research firm GfK, BlackBerry was the #3 best-selling brand in the UAE in August this year. Additionally, 98 percent of all BlackBerry users in the UAE use BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) to stay in contact with their networks, families, friends and colleagues, one of the highest customer use rates in the world. “As such, this is an extremely important country to us and we continue to ensure we are committed to investing in it – for example, the UAE was one of the key launch markets for our BlackBerry 10 smartphone range, including the BlackBerry Z10, Q10, Q5 and the new BlackBerry Z30,” said Nick Horton, Managing Director for Middle East and North Africa, BlackBerry.
“We are seeing an increasing demanding from our customers to stay connected and be productive while on the move and our company’s heritage is built on consumer users and business leaders that value productivity and connectivity as their top priorities during the day – whether this be their corporate emails or even their social media networks. We continue to work with our partners in the UAE to deliver BlackBerry 10 to our target markets in a variety of ways – through the channel, in-store and online. Now more than ever, we want to ensure our users gain access to the technologies, features and applications that will allow them to work more efficiently,” he added.
