iPhone 5 can't take Android crown as BlackBerry nosedives

Android continues to dominate the UK phone market, despite the coming of the iPhone 5. Apple makes a third of phones sold, but more than half of phones flogged in the UK run Google software -- while BlackBerry has experienced another disastrous dip in sales.

New phone figures from the numbercrunchers at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech reveal that the iPhone 5 had a relatively small impact on iPhone sales. Although iOS sales climbed 5 per cent over this time last year, Android sales climbed 7 per cent to grab 54 per cent of the total market share.

Meanwhile BlackBerry sales fell of a cliff. RIM's market share nosedived from 19 per cent to just 7.9 per cent as former BlackBerry addicts abandon their clicky keyboards for Android or iPhone.

In the US iOS edges out Android after a huge 25 per cent climb following the arrival of the iPhone 5 earlier this year. It's a more clear-cut two-horse race in the US as Windows Phone, Blackberry et al hold a negligible amount of sales.

BlackBerry phones make up less than 2 per cent of the American market -- another disastrous fall from 8.5 per cent this time last year. There's evidently a bigger market for the Qwerty keyboard in the States, but that's still a worrying number for RIM, which is banking on BlackBerry 10 to rescue its fortunes.

BlackBerry 10 makes its debut on two new phones in the new year, and is supposedly going to persuade us all to ditch our laptops by turning your phone into a brain that plugs into workstations wherever you go.

Were you underwhelmed by the iPhone 5? Have you ditched BlackBerry? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.