BlackBerrys Account For 80% Of NFC Phones In UK

Despite facing a continued decline, RIM remains optimistic with its recent BlackBerry 10 debut and even points out that its handsets have an edge over others when it comes to mobile payments. According to the Canadian phone maker, BlackBerry devices account for 80 percent of NFC phones in the UK. What sort of lead RIM might have in the US, however, was not discussed.

"Eighty percent of mobile devices with NFC sold through retail in Q1 2012 were [Blackberry] NFC devices, compared to 72 percent in 2011," said RIM senior director of sales and operations, Gerry Kelliher. "We've shipped devices from last August compatible with NFC because we really felt that bringing that to market is something people can relate with."

Kelliher believes that RIM is in a very strong position when it comes to NFC, with its NFC market share dwarfing the competition, such as HTC and Samsung. The company is also looking to put NFC in as many upcoming devices as possible and is working closely with carriers and banks to bring mobile payments to BlackBerrys in 2012.

The UK market has picked up on NFC mobile payments more so than consumers stateside it appears, as they have options like Pingit and O2 Wallet, and they're used to wireless technology from the popularity of the Oyster card. Kelliher thinks this makes the UK a prime market for RIM and he also denied rumors that RIM had any intentions of pulling out of the consumer market.

[via The Inquirer]