Canadian handset maker RIM’s BlackBerry smartphone platform outshined its rivals last year in the UK, market research firm Gfk claims.

According to Gfk, BlackBerry smartphones accounted for 28.2 per cent of all handset sales during the last year. The Canadian handset maker also managed to shift more than 500,000 during the Christmas period, which accounts for a total of 36 per cent of the total Christmas sales.

RIM claims that nearly half of the pre-pay handsets sold over the Christmas month were BlackBerry handsets. The BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphones attracted huge swarms of customers.

Meanwhile, RIM's BlackBerry App World, which offers less than 17,000 apps as compared with the Apple’s App Store’s more than 200,000 apps, grew 60 per cent since the second quarter of 2010.

Separately, details about RIM’s potential handset BlackBerry Curve Touch have emerged online. CrackBerry claims that RIM’s potential BlackBerry Curve Touch will come with a completely touch-based interface in place of a keyboard. It will feature a 5-megapixel camera with HD video, an 800MHz Qualcomm processor, a 3.25-inch HGVA touchscreen, 512MB of RAM, 1GB storage with microSD slot, A-GPS, Ambient Light Sensor and Accelerometer.

Leaks details about the BlackBerry Curve Touch have appeared ahead of upcoming Mobile World Congress that will take place in Barcelona.