Over the past year or so, BlackBerry bashin’ has become a very popular hobby for users of all other mobile platforms. The aged OS and redundant hardware has kept many consumers disinterested and yawning rather than on their toes and excited.

Nonetheless, throughout the constant hounding and pitch fork conventions, RIM has continued to show steady growth. This time around, RIM has made its way into the top five phone manufacturers worldwide. Preceded by the obvious phone manufacturing giants Nokia, Samsung, and LG (1, 2, and 3 respectively), RIM settles in for fourth seat, passing Sony Ericson by a mere 100,000 phones. The research by IDC (International Data Corporation) reveals that between January and March Nokia sold 107.8 million, Samsung sold 64.3 million, LG sold 27.1 million, and RIM sold 10.6 million devices. All these phones together come to produce a 21.7% year-over-year total increase.

As for here in the US, Apple is leading the pack with 8.75 million iPhones sold, closely being trailed by Motorola with their 8.5 million phones sold. This is a pretty impressive feat considering Apple only sells one style phone versus Motorola’s various smartphones, feature phones, and basic flip phones.

This is all very interesting considering the headlines we all follow. Motorola has been within the top five manufacturers since IDC started researching back in 2004. There’s a reason RIM is referred to as the “Sleeping Giant”, but it looks like it will be a long time before anyone catches the top three.

Via: BGR