Gone are the days when Canadian manufacturer RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones were considered ‘cool’.

A fresh study by NPD revealed that BlackBerry handsets accounted for only 11 per cent of the total number of smartphones sold during the second quarter of 2011 in the US.

The percentage was considerably down from 16 per cent in the first quarter of this year, and more than 30 per cent from the corresponding quarter two years ago.

On the other hand, rival Android and iPhone jumped to 52 per cent and around 29 per cent respectively.

Figures released by market research firm ComScore also showed BlackBerry’s declining market share. According to ComScore, around 70 per cent of US smartphone users in July were on either Android or iPhone.

BlackBerry’s declining market share is a clear indicator that it is fading away, and could soon experience the fate of the Palm.

However, RIM claims that it has as many as 67 million subscribers globally, and its customer base is growing overseas in regions like Western Europe, Africa, Middle East and India. For its most recent quarter, RIM reported a year-over-year growth of 16 per cent.