Blackberries have been around for just about a decade, providing the first feasible mobile solution to corporate men looking to stay connected on the go. Without doubt blackberry have held onto this market ever since, we are however not here to talk about the old and boring coporate men in suites and ties, we are here to talk about blackberry’s popularity.
Blackberry Platform vs Others
I am a Symbian guy. Many of you unfamiliar with mobile technology might ask: “What the hell is Symbian??”. Well Symbian is the most popular smartphone platform in the word, 40% of every smartphone sold is a symbian smartphone, mainly by Nokia. Blackberry might lack symbian’s numbers worldwide but the platform rules in the western hemisphere and commands as much mindshare and accultism as the iPhone. People literally worship the devices and teens cry tears for them, the blackberry is that powerful. What was once a rich guy’s clunky email brick is now a teenage girl’s dream(to stay in contact with friends), and a teenage boy’s fantasy(get all those girls with a trendy bb).
Blackberries are one of only a few smartphones(iPhone is the next) that requires a data connection to work, ence all networks offering blackberries are required to offer it along with a data plan. In alot of cases blackberries end up as the only device that is able to acquire an unlimited data plan which gives it significant advantage over other smartphones. One example is Digicel Jamaica that offers unlimited data only to blackberries, an unfair advantage I believe over other smartphones.
Blackberry Bias
This unlimted data bias and Blackberry Messenger are the two main reasons why Blackberries have acquired this cult like status in many nations. In truth the functionality of blackberries are inferior to just about every other smartphone platforms out there, mainly in OS quality, hardware quality, app quality and general features such as a web browser with flash.
Blackberries are loved for what they offer and the platform will continue to grow as more people crave the device, but as for the question on why this crave exists, hype and unfair bias to the platform will be my answer.
8 responses to “Why are Blackberries so Popular?”
Yes I must agree that they are ridiculously popular in the Western Hemisphere but I think that is only limited to developing countries most of the developed countries of the Western Hemisphere have data plans for all of their smartphones. In the case of our Jamaican culture and environment the BB flourishes due to as you mentioned the hype behind the device and the fact that its one of the only phones that has an unlimited data plan and that its one of the only phones that is both offered by all three of our carriers Digicel, LIME and Claro with that unlimited data plan but I’m not sure if you are aware of this but Claro has a unlimited data plan for the iPhone.
Yes I was mostly referring to developing countries because those are the places where blackberries are experiencing most of their growth.
Yes I know claro has a data plan for iphone(and a general plan for other phones), however the main telecom digicel only provides a data plan for blackberries and this restrict their uses to just blackberries if they hope to use the network(which many have been using for 9 years) and have reliable unlimited data.
I’m getting a cheap blackberry soon because from what I see its the only phone that comes with a good desktop application that you can sync to (aside from itunes)
I use HTC sync desktop app for my phone without a problem
so as long as you keep buying new HTC android phones then I guess your good. does it export?
What exactly are your requirements? Because any decent cellphone comes with a desktop manager my Sony Ecricssons had so did the Motorola and Nokias that I came across?
BBs now are what flip cellphones and then slider cellphones use to be when they just came out its about the look and they hype the fact that the BB service also gives it edge is some what another matter because several persons have BBs with know BIS on the phone.
this post is very usefull thx!