Remember back in the days before we all had smart phones? We used to hear about BlackBerries (or CrackBerries) when Paris Hilton’s would get hacked, or Lindsey Lohan would leave hers in some hotel bar while on a bender.
BlackBerry was hot and cool for a time…but did it really go away?
BlackBerry was hot and cool for a time…but did it really go away?
The new BlackBerry homepage.
If you walk around any large office, you’ll see iPhones and Android phones sitting on desks. I’d be willing to bet the majority of those are the personal phones of your co-workers. Surprisingly, you’ll still see a lot of Blackberries sitting around on office desks, for business use. I know some businessmen who have had the same Blackberry for years. Creatures of habit.
Rim, the creators of Blackberry, have been going through a bit of a transformation after losing market share for years to iPhone and Android. Oddly enough, after all these years, RIM has finally decided to call itself…Blackberry. A big part of Marketing 101 is brand recognition, right?
On top of the name change RIM, I mean Blackberry, is pushing a new operating system--Blackberry 10, and two new smartphones to compete with the iPhone and Android markets: the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10. The Z10 features a 4.2 inch touch screen Lindsey would love, and the Q10 features a traditional BlackBerry physical QWERTY keyboard even Paris could use. Each phone should be on the market by mid-March, on most major carriers, for around $200 with 2 year contracts.
The BlackBerry 10 OS is designed for the multi-taskers. The BlackBerry Hub is an interesting single screen feature that shows all of your notifications including email, all in one place. From the Hub you can use BlackBerry Messenger, tweet, and use Facebook and LinkedIn, without going to the respective apps. Other features include Flow, or swiping between multiple apps, and Peek, which lets you peek at your hub without leaving the current screen.
Rim, the creators of Blackberry, have been going through a bit of a transformation after losing market share for years to iPhone and Android. Oddly enough, after all these years, RIM has finally decided to call itself…Blackberry. A big part of Marketing 101 is brand recognition, right?
On top of the name change RIM, I mean Blackberry, is pushing a new operating system--Blackberry 10, and two new smartphones to compete with the iPhone and Android markets: the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10. The Z10 features a 4.2 inch touch screen Lindsey would love, and the Q10 features a traditional BlackBerry physical QWERTY keyboard even Paris could use. Each phone should be on the market by mid-March, on most major carriers, for around $200 with 2 year contracts.
The BlackBerry 10 OS is designed for the multi-taskers. The BlackBerry Hub is an interesting single screen feature that shows all of your notifications including email, all in one place. From the Hub you can use BlackBerry Messenger, tweet, and use Facebook and LinkedIn, without going to the respective apps. Other features include Flow, or swiping between multiple apps, and Peek, which lets you peek at your hub without leaving the current screen.
Blackberry OS 10 highlights.
BlackBerry Messenger can now do video calls, and if another user is on BlackBerry Messenger, you can share screens so you can view the other user’s screen. Another interesting feature surely to appeal to business users is BlackBerry Balance which allows you to create personal and business profiles, with different modes, and different sets of apps.
The BlackBerry World app store promises the availability of more than 70,000 apps. Facebook, Twitter and Angry Birds are included, so we should all be pretty well covered. But seriously, most major apps are available.
So, RIM, I mean BlackBerry…why did it take so long? Did you not see your market share slipping to Iphone and Android, like the rest of us did? Tech pundits like PC World are saying that the lag in actual availability of the new BlackBerry phones could end up killing BlackBerry 10, before it even gets out of the gate.
PC World also points out that the Mobile World Congress is in late February—the most important tradeshow for mobile announcements. These new BlackBerrys won’t be on the market before big guns like Samsung drop their own mobile announcement bombs. RIM, I mean Blackberry, may have opened the kimono a bit early to competitors who might try to steal BlackBerry’s thunder before it even strikes.
So, what do you think? Still a BlackBerry user, and stuck with ‘em? Will they be able to win you back, or is it just too little too late? I would imagine Lindsey and Paris are creatures of…habit…so maybe they’ll be back on the BlackBerry bus!
The BlackBerry World app store promises the availability of more than 70,000 apps. Facebook, Twitter and Angry Birds are included, so we should all be pretty well covered. But seriously, most major apps are available.
So, RIM, I mean BlackBerry…why did it take so long? Did you not see your market share slipping to Iphone and Android, like the rest of us did? Tech pundits like PC World are saying that the lag in actual availability of the new BlackBerry phones could end up killing BlackBerry 10, before it even gets out of the gate.
PC World also points out that the Mobile World Congress is in late February—the most important tradeshow for mobile announcements. These new BlackBerrys won’t be on the market before big guns like Samsung drop their own mobile announcement bombs. RIM, I mean Blackberry, may have opened the kimono a bit early to competitors who might try to steal BlackBerry’s thunder before it even strikes.
So, what do you think? Still a BlackBerry user, and stuck with ‘em? Will they be able to win you back, or is it just too little too late? I would imagine Lindsey and Paris are creatures of…habit…so maybe they’ll be back on the BlackBerry bus!
