In the run up to the launch of BlackBerry 10, many bloggers/journalists are still very sceptical about RIM's success looking into the future. Over the last year or so many have slated this may be to due to the decline in BlackBerry sales in North America. But the U.S. is only a small part of the world.

We have featured BlackBerry news from Africa more frequently over the last few months and things in that neck of the woods are going great for RIM. Take Nigeria for example - there are 4 million smartphone users in Nigeria and 46% of them use a BlackBerry. That's a big chunk of marketshare from where i'm sitting.

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It's nearly Christmas time once again and BlackBerry Nigeria has a fine selection of free gifts on offer to go along with new BlackBerry smartphone purchases. With RIM having 46% of the smartphone marketshare in Nigeria, I suspect sales will be pretty sweet for the Nigerian retailers.

The offers are as follows:

• BlackBerry Curve 9220 - 205 credits for FREE music downloads from Spinlet work 240 Naira FREE set of Aerial7 headphones worth 4800 Naira
• BlackBerry Curve 9320 - FREE set of Aerial7 headphones worth 4800 Naira
• BlackBerry Curve 9360/9380, Torch 9810 and Bold 9790 - FREE BBM 2GB memory stick worth 1600 Naira
• Blackberry Bold 9900 - FREE HS250 Bluetooth headset with car charger worth 6 400 Naira PLUS the chance of winning 1 of 2 trips for 2 to Dubai!

For a full list of retailers where you can claim your free gift click here.

We reported just a short time ago about the new BlackBerry retail store opening in Nigeria and it seems that the BlackBerry market in Africa is getting stronger day by day. BlackBerry holds the top spot not only in Nigeria but also in the whole of Africa. Clearly in some parts of the world RIM are not doing as well at the moment so it is vital that the Canadian company keep on supporting BlackBerry 7 for a considerable time to come after BlackBerry 10 is launched.

There are more than 170 million people living in Nigeria, which is Africa's most populous nation and one in six Africans are Nigerian. Like here in the UK where I live, BlackBerry smartphones are hugely popular with the youth market and in Nigeria 40% of the population is under the age of 14.

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The word on the street is that Visafone in Nigeria are introducing BlackBerry Services onto their CDMA network and they are kicking things off with three models - the BlackBerry Bold 9330, BlackBerry Curve 9310 and the BlackBerry Curve 9370 -- what a fine selection. As a special promotion Visafone are offering some incentives to the first 1000 people who sign up to a BlackBerry plan with free accessories and even a chance to win a trip to Dubai.

We have covered the BlackBerry news from West Africa frequently over the last few months. It is another region where the BlackBerry is the number one selling smartphone if my memory serves me correctly. The Visafone shops will start taking pre-orders of the three new BlackBerry smartphones on Friday this week, October 26th.

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BlackBerry news stories have been cropping up from Africa fairly frequently now here on CrackBerry and here we have yet another positive slice of pie. Research In Motion - Nigeria, where only last week they opened a retail store, has been speaking to Nigerian businessmen and entertainers about their BlackBerry experiences and how the smartphone benefits their lives.

As BlackBerry users we can all understand how important our smartphone is to us and the thought of not having instant email, social networking and BBM is pretty horrific! We know that BlackBerry is huge in both North and South Africa and it fantastic to see the people of Nigeria sharing their BlackBerry experiences with us all.

Yes, in many parts of the world the press is only looking towards BlackBerry 10 but we must not forget that BlackBerry 7 will be around for a good while yet and RIM will continue to support it. I know that the BlackBerry Curve 8520 is now an old device for many of us but it was still the best selling smartphone in South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt in June this year and I am sure nothing much as changed since then. 

Even this week's earnings call figures have proved that the BlackBerry subscribers are increasing and we now have 80 million worldwide - so much for a failing company! Keep up the good work RIM Nigeria - let's keep the BlackBerry hype.

Things are still on the up for Research in Motion in Africa these days. As planned they have sucessfully opened a new retail store in computer village, Lagos, Nigeria.

Robert Bose, Regional Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa said, "As the leading smartphone provider in Nigeria and in Africa overall, our customers are our number one priority, so we are very pleased to cement our physical presence with local staff, establish a new legal entity and work with local business partners to expand our retail and customer care across Nigeria."

RIM, in association with mobile phone distributor Slot Nigeria, officially opened the BlackBerry® by SLOT store in Nigeria at Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos yesterday, designed especially to provide Nigerian customers with a first-class, authentic BlackBerry purchasing experience, including free software upgrades from the facility in the Computer Village store. BlackBerry smartphones that can be upgraded to OS 7.1 include the BlackBerry® Bold 9900, BlackBerry® Torch 9810, BlackBerry® Torch  9860, BlackBerry® Curve 9360 and the BlackBerry® Curve 9380.

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Anyone that doubts the future of Research In Motion and the BlackBerry brand need look no further than the developing markets outside of North America to see that not only is RIM not dead, it is in fact flourishing in other parts of the world. South Africa, Indonesia, and Mexico are all huge contributors to revenue, with Nigeria soon to be added to the list. Robert Bose, head of RIM for Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, revealed at BlackBerry World that within the next two months a BlackBerry office will open in Lagos, making Nigeria a specific target market.

Nigeria currently has a very small smartphone market at this time with only 5% of phone users owning one. However, BlackBerry is the number one smartphone brand with half of that market already using the RIM made devices. With inexpensive unlimited internet plans and the high popularity of BlackBerry Messenger in this region (97% of BlackBerry users in Nigeria use BBM) combined with inexpensive phones such as the BlackBerry Curve 8520, it's no wonder the brand has gone viral. It's not just a matter of money, however. BlackBerry was voted as the most popular phone among teenagers and there was even a series of Nollywood films released last year called BlackBerry Babes focusing on how your social status can be harmed if you don't own a BlackBerry. All of this, without any direct representation of the brand.

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Nigeria is getting a bad name when it comes to email, and now that reputation is spreading to BlackBerry Messenger as well, in the form of broadcast messages. Earlier this year, a broadcast BBM message was sent out informing BlackBerry users that Nelson Mandela had died. This turned out to be a hoax. Yesterday a more serious and frightening message was broadcast.

Just got this now, 16:40 today 14/07/11 on Al-Jazeera network.....Lord help us! NASA reports tsunami alert on the west African coast (gulf of guinea) following a quake offshore Malabo (equatorial guinea). 20 meter high tides reported heading towards the coast of Lagos, Lome and Accra.

Needless to say, sending out false reports such as this is not funny, and in fact caused a lot of panic for people. Expert meteorologists determined that there is no tsunami or earthquake, and that the message is a hoax.

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