Graeme Richardson

Well its not so bad, but I do think they are falling behind even though they are a big player in the US market. What prompt me to write about this, is this cnn article about why people still use blackberrys. The reasons I think people use blackberries are two main reasons. Normal users know it to be a “business smart phone”, and want to emulate the type of people we us them. Businesses hand out berries to their employers, because they are secure and have useful enterprise privacy features ie. wiping a phones data remotely. Black Berries are ugly and bulky, there physical design alone creates a barrier for enjoying the kind of experience and productivity that other smart phone users enjoy. The ui design, processing power and features also don’t compare. In the end it comes down to marketing. Berries are on all major US carriers, but Apples Iphone, HTC EVO 4G and HTC Droid isn’t. Those phones are locked in to their respective carriers, at-least for now. Those phones are then prone to what I like to dub the “hear say” epidemic. I have heard rumors such as “android phones get viruses” , Iphones have terrible reception”, “Apple is coming to Verizon next month anyways” . Black Berry is also successful at branding it self as a smart phone. The general mobile user views Apples Iphone as gaming and media device, locked into itunes and the app store. Non-tech and some tech mobile users still have no idea what an android phone is, even though they have the second largest app market and 9+% of the US cell phone market. As apple and android continue to develop there enterprise security features it will be interesting to see if businesses will catch on and if black berry can hold on to their market share and business appeal.