While the concentration of the smartphone market is predominantly focused in North America, smartphone growth in other countries seems to be under the radar, especially for smartphone maker Research In Motion. RIM is proud to announce that BlackBerry smartphones are now available in over 35 African countries. ITNewsAfrica got in touch with Craige Fleischer, RIM Regional Director for Southern Africa, who stated RIM is very optimistic about the smartphone growth targets in Africa.
“Market researchers predict a boom in Africa’s data market over the next five years as the mobile broadband market ignites,” says Fleischer. “Information Telecoms and Media project that there will be 265 million mobile broadband subscriptions in Africa by 2015, a huge increase from the current figure of about 12 million. That means nearly a third of the more than 800 million expected mobile subscribers in Africa will be using mobile technologies to access the Internet,” says Fleischer.
According to Fleischer, BlackBerry devices are available in over 35 African countries in partnership with over 80 mobile operators which include Botswana, Swaziland, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Tanzania, Egypt and Zambia.
“Africa is a strategic priority for RIM and we have been moving aggressively into the African market to make the BlackBerry solution (smartphones, tablets and services such as the BlackBerry Internet Service) available to African businesses and consumers,” says Fleischer.
The BlackBerry device has been launched in several African countries including
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