Blackberry maker named worldÔÇÖs fastest growing firm

Canadian firm Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of the Blackberry smartphone, has been named the worldÔÇÖs fastest growing firm in Fortune magazineÔÇÖs annual guide.  The firmÔÇÖs success is due in part to the release of its latest Blackberry model, the Curve, which in the three months to June this year was the top-selling smartphone in the US, claiming more than 50 percent market share. This year is the first time that Fortune has opened the list to non-US companies.  The number two spot was claimed by Silicon Valley chip maker Sigma Designs, with Chinese search engine Sohu.com making it to third position. Fortune measures firms by profits, turnover and investment return over three years in order to rank them. Profits at RIM have risen 84 percent over the past three years. Its revenues have grown by 77 percent and return on investment has come in at 45 percent over the same period. RIMÔÇÖs rival Apple, whose iPhone long dominated the consumer smartphone market, only came in at 39, a drop of eight places from last year. ┬á Chinese firms featured heavily in the list, and aside from Sohu.com included online games website Shanda, hotel reservation agency Ctrip.com and software firm Asia Info. The country has been boosted by strong economic growth despite the global recession. Last year, US oil and gas firm Arena Resources, which operates in Texas and New Mexico, was named number one. This year it was ranked eighth. RIM is now expected to try and reduce its dependency on the US market. The Blackberry has not been as successful in EuropeÔÇöfor example, in the UK, it only holds 12 percent of the marketÔÇödue to a wider choice of smartphones there and a greater number of vendors.  * ┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á*┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *