Celestica to wind down manufacturing for RIM

This is something that is expected in the technology field. Even giants like Nokia, are showing signs of slowing down as Samsung and Apple products are growing up. To me, Blackberry phones have always been for the business class people. They were never a multimedia device any time. This fall or decline is not a surprise at all.

Now that I am using an Android "superphone" device on daily basis, I've only had my respect for RIM increase. At least before Apple made consumerization cool, RIM did get the productivity tool right -- great battery life, great keyboard, emails, instant communications. Things that actually run the office. But hey, I can take great photos on my instagram.. but cant respond to an email without spelling something wrong!

Let's hope RIM surprises the tech marketplace with some innovation. I am still using a TMobile 9780 (which I unlocked) as my primary voice and data handset since upgrading to it in late March 2011. It's a 3G device, but has been extremely reliable.

And it's been a multimedia device for me, as well. My 9780 has a microSD 16GB memory card and I've downloaded movies after using DivX Converter. I have over 75 music albums on my memory card, as well.

On the business side, security certificate management is a real plus.

It is unfortunate that RIM has not been "flexible" by allowing its customers to selectively upgrade their handsets to OS7 from OS6 using Desktop Manager. I upgraded my old 9700 to OS6 with a little help from the "geek community" after I unlocked it (Later I sold the 9700 to a happy EBay customer who was happy to get OS6 on it instead of OS5).

If RIM wants to successfully compete with the Android handset explosion, then it must allow for its handsets to be upgraded to newer firmware and latest/greatest OS builds (if the handset owner chooses).

I am waiting for a 4G BlackBerry that is a slimmer version of the Torch 9810 (which was sold by T-Mobile USA) or something like the 9860 Verizon model.