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    Survey: wealthiest people own BlackBerrys

    Survey: wealthiest people own BlackBerrys

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    The richest Americans continue to own BlackBerrys even as RIM loses overall market share. Are you surprised?

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    Heidi Klum
    Heidi Klum

    This may or may not come as a surprise to you, but a recent survey of 25,000 mobile phone users found that the wealthiest group -- those with household earnings of $150,000 or more -- own BlackBerrys. BlackBerry maker RIM has faced an increasingly uphill battle in the smartphone wars with relative newcomers such as Apple's iPhone and Google's Android devices have quickly eaten up market share, so maybe this is a bit of good news.

    The phones have long been associated with the "getting things done" crowd, and have historically been seen as status symbols, but smartphones are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, with Nielsen declaring that 50 percent of the United States population will own one by the end of 2011. This factor, as well as slow development of its platform, has tarnished RIM's reputation somewhat, though Celebrity BlackBerry Sightings lives on.

    The survey, conducted by Prosper Mobile Insights, polled 25,000 Americans, and the top income category showed that BlackBerry snagged 11.3 percent, with iPhone hitting 10.9 percent and Android with 7.2 percent.