Blackberry Hurting in US Market; Dominating in the UK

It has become a popular belief in the U.S. that without an iPhone or Android, you are falling behind the times. With Blackberrys increasingly being seen as a thing of the past, it seems most users have turned their back on the once dominant smartphone. What some may be surprised to know is that in the U.K., the opposite is true. Research in Motion Limited's

once booming wireless solution has seen a surge in sales across the pond. According to telegraph.co.uk, the most recent data to date shows that BlackBerry averaged 27.7 percent market share in 2011 and hit 8.5 million U.K. subscribers, while it took only 16.6 percent in the U.S. market over the last three months. Reflecting back on the days of the once revolutionary Blackberry Messenger [BBM] and now fast-forwarding to the current persisting Apple

and Android force, it appears U.S. smartphone users feel less than nostalgic for their Blackberry's and yearn more so for their affordable apps and touchscreen phones that double as iPods. While it has become a popular idea that RIMM should bite the bullet and break-up the company or sell altogether, new CEO Thorsten Heins has dismissed the suggestion and plans to push ahead, slashgear.com reports. And Heins appears to be determined in his quest. In an exclusive interview with cnbc.com, he explained his frustrations, along with how he continues to keep Blackberrys on the market in the future. “To stem the tide of corporate defections, and prime the pump for Blackberry 10 later this year, the company will soon announce a new replacement program to get the Blackberry 7 in the hands of Blackberry 5 users as fast as possible. He wouldn't give details, but suggested the change will not crush margins,” cnbc.com reported. “He said several times that he ‘gets' the frustrations in the market. He genuinely believes he has the best operating system.” In a research report published on January 24th, Jefferies expected RIMM to undergo restructuring as the report was aptly titled, “New CEO but Same Problems”. Jefferies went on to comment in the report, “We believe RIM's new CEO struck a positive tone on the conference call Monday to rally the troops; however, we believe after conducting an in depth study, he will conclude that a significant restructuring is necessary as the company will not be able to compete head on with Apple and Android. We expect positive headlines but negative fundamentals until BB OS 10 handsets are launched in the Fall and reiterate our Hold and $17 target.” Though it may be a tough sell in North America, Heins can still count on U.K. consumers, for now. From a service outage in October that affected a number of countries, to the management shake-up that recently took place, RIMM has seen better days. Research In Motion Limited (

) is currently trading at $16.80, up 15.86% YTD.