BlackBerry has proven to be a valued phone brand in the South African market, having steadily increased its market share from 18% to 23% between 2009 and 2013.

This is according to ‘The Mobility 2014 research study’, which was compiled by research firm World Wide Worx with the backing of First National Bank (FNB).

The fieldwork research was conducted by Dashboard Marketing Intelligence in late 2013 and is made up of face-to-face interviews with 1,200 respondents – 800 from urban areas and 400 from rural areas.

And according to the research, it is thanks to an aspirational appeal in younger markets that Blackberry has managed to increase its market share locally.

Peter Searll, managing director at Dashboard, has said BlackBerry is still big among users in South Africa as well as in West Africa where adoption of the mobile device has shown strong growth.

Although mobile phone company Nokia is still the top phone brand in the country, it was down from 50% to 44% over the past year, the research said.

Meanwhile, popular brand Samsung increased its share marginally from 18% to 19%. In mid-2012 consumers had indicated they would move away from the brand, with a third of its users saying they would opt for other phones.

However, the appeal of its Galaxy range of Android devices across all smartphone price segments has resulted in resurgence for Samsung, revealed the study.