I’m sure most are aware that BlackBerry maker Research In Motion hasn’t been fairing all that well in smartphone uptake recently, and with plunging sales of their BlackBerry handsets in the United States, probably due to the uptake of rivals the iPhone and Android devices, it appears RIM is looking towards the Middle East, where the BlackBerry has held up better, to improve on their sales by opening stores across the Middle East.

According to the guys over at Bloomberg, the word is Research In Motion is in the final negotiation stage of leasing a BlackBerry flagship store in Dubai with up to 1500 square feet, and that stores are planned across the region with RIM local partner Axiom Telecom.

The managing director of Research In Motion’s Middle East business, Sandeep Saihgal has said whilst visiting RIM HQ in Waterloo that they are looking at getting the first BlackBerry flagship store up and running, and will then look at other cities across the Middle East, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Thus as consumers in the USA are dropping BlackBerry for Android devices and the popular iPhone, RIM is hoping that first time purchasers of smartphones in the Middle East, Asia and Africa opt to purchase a BlackBerry device.

Back in Feb, Research In Motion stated they were planning on roughly 4,000 outlets across Indonesia, including kiosks, store-in-stores and dedicated BlackBerry stores that would be a proving ground for the expansion of BlackBerry across southeast Asia.

Apparently once RIM have expanded in the Middle East, the word is Africa would probably be next in line with RIM putting BlackBerry flagship stores in such markets as Nigeria, Lagos, Kenya, and Nairobi.

So, what do our readers think about RIM opening new stores across the Middle East, can RIM pull back some of their lost popularity and regain a firm hold in the mobile space with this expansion, or do you feel BlackBerry is nearing its final days as a major player?