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Why yes, that is a bag phone
There are times that I feel my "loyalty" the the BlackBerry brand has been somewhat tested with all the negative news that's thrust down my throat every day of the week. But this week has been an eye opener for sure.
I've had to attend a series of 3 meetings that took place in the Scotia Plaza in downtown Toronto from Tuesday to Thursday. During various breaks it was interesting to make a mental note of what phones were being used. After all the crap I've heard I very well expected to see quadzillions of Androids and Apples. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The results of this 3 day and highly unscientific survey puts BlackBerry out front with a resounding lead. If I had to put a number on it I would honestly say BB represented a good 85%± of the phones I saw in use with the vast majority of the rest being iPhones. Sorry to say Android fans but that OS was very poorly represented, in fact, I was only able to positively ID 3 phones as Android devices out of the hundreds I saw over the last 3 days.
This survey prooves nothing except the following: 1) I need a new hobby; 2) There are far more BB users out there than the press and the analysts would have you believe, and; 3) I do have a point 3 but it's totally slipped my mind.
So next time a Fandroid kicks sand in your face tell him you know better and run like the Dickens!
Sent from my BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps using HowardForums
I've climbed a cellphone tower
To be honest, I've always thought that certain entities were trying to devalue the stock, to be able to perform takeover. By creating a boat-load of FUD, they undermine the confidence of investors, and consumers and walk away with a prize company. That, and the speculator's that drove the stock down to $25 made a pile of money when the stock rebounded.
So yea, it's pretty much a steaming pile of dog doo that RIM is failing.
Why yes, that is a bag phone
I've never met a tech sector analyst who I would kiss on the lips so my opinion of them is somewhat skewed. But a cursory glance over their reports from the last 18 months to 2 years shows what seems to be a deliberate attack on RIM's fortunes and stock price. At one point RIM was breaking records and raking in the moola and yet the attacks continued. I remember wondering at the time what was going on. The problem is RIM was falling behind somewhat but the constant harping from the financial sector basically exasperated matters which further played into the hands of the analysts. I'm convinced that RIM wouldn't be in as big a mess as they find themselves in now if it wasn't for the analysts and their desire to jump on the next big thing. I also think it's fairly obvious that they wouldn't be king of the hill anymore with or without the arsehats controlling their share price. But, I'm also convinced we've yet to see the best that RIM can do. Maybe I'm seeing things through rose tinted glasses but I'm convinced BB10 is going to be a powerful and versitile OS and providing RIM markets it properly they should be onto a dominating winner.Originally Posted by CGY Guy
Remember kiddies, you can't spell analyst without.....oh, never mind.
Radiation is good
Interestingly, I wanted to write about my little experience so I'll share it in your thread as quickly as I can.
The Canadian and US BlackBerry experience is very very different.
Last week I went shopping in Buffalo, NY. I happened to stop into a Walmart supercenter and a Target.
Both did NOT have any BB products. When I asked the guy at Target why, he said "BlackBerry is DISCONTINUED"
Not suprised.
A day or two later, I made a trip down south and went thru the Buffalo Airport, Chicago, Huntsville and North Carolina airports. I can tell you that I saw *MAYBE* 5 people in total with a BB in all 4 airports. No kidding and I could easily say that at least 3/4 of the phones I saw in the airports were iPhones. Interestingly, there's a BB store in the Carolina airport... but it was dead empty. While in the south, I was able to attend Bonnaroo. The only topic of discussion was how everyone's iPhone had no reception and service sucked. I may have been the only person there that I saw with a BB. I would say, easily, 90% of the phones were iPhones. To my friend's amazement, I had 4 bars most of the time and was able to text back home and call without a problem.
So, here's what I've concluded:
For the most part, BB is DEAD in the USA. BB is DEAD in the US retail markets. BB is likely to be DEAD unless something catastrophic develops at apple. Kids everywhere had either a hand-me down iPhone or an iTouch... and they were all very proficient with it as well.
Internationally it may be a different story but only in select markets.
This is why I find most of my Canadian friends and crackberry addicts find it difficult and frustrating when they read about BB being dead and all that. In Toronto, for example, BB is far from dead so we can't really relate to the US storytelling. But let me tell you, my recent travels down south tell me that RIM better hit a grand slam with BBX/BB10 or else BB will be a fading memory...
My screen is bigger than yours
I can echo both the comments made by Mann Incognito and Mr.Conviviality. I do work with a multi-billion dollar company and virtually all the directors and senior management carry Blackberry devices. These are not just work issued as they also keep their own personal Blackberry devices as well (many of them carry two phones, both Blackberry devices). Likewise, while I was in the UK, most people had a Blackberry device, followed closely by an iPhone.
Blackberry accessories in the US are non-existent. About a year ago I stopped by a Wal-Mart in Michigan where they were clearing out some OEM accessories. Since that time, I haven't seen any Blackberry accessories in stores, save for a few at a supermarket, but none were for more current devices. Most people in the US don't use Blackberry much any more, and when I do see people using them there, I usually just assume they are Canadians. Similarly, when I was in South Korea, I saw only two people using Blackberry devices, with the vast majority using SGS2s or Galaxy Notes.
Radiation is good
Blackberry is dead as far as the consumer market. They may still be strong in business, but the average consumer does not want a BB anymore. The reason is simple. People want apps and there are simply not enough apps being made for BB as there are for Android and Iphone. Every time I see an app advertised that looks interesting or useful to me, sure enough, only available for A/I, not BB. I'm a big fantasy sports player. Yet there are no apps available for BB that allow me to manage my fantasy teams. That's just one example. If you just need email access then BB is fine.
Why yes, that is a bag phone
I respectfully disagree. It may well be the case that BB has been well and truly trounced in the US but it is very easy to forget that there is more than one market outside of America. For instance, here in Canada, BBOS is still the dominant OS by far. It's overall stranglehold may have slipped somewhat but nowhere the level the press would have you believe. And it's not just in Toronto, either. I travel extensively for my business both internationally and domestically and it's quite apparent that BB is alive and well here. Not just in Canada either, I travel to the UK between 4-6 times a year and if you think BB is strong in Canada then the UK is going to blow your socks off. Both my niece and nephew (18 & 21 years respectively) sport BBs for three reasons: 1) Full, tactile keyboard; 2) BBM and easily integrated social Apps, and; 3) It's not an iPhone.
Seems like Europe as a whole is reluctant to cede their Berrys and I hear the same is happening in Africa and Asia. I'm not saying the RIM hasn't lost market share, that would be naive, but the story isn't even a fraction as frightening as the press and the analysts would have you believe, even RIM's numbers back this up.
I think the App situation is a bit of a smoke screen. I have never not been able to find an app that I needed and I know of only one person out of all the people I know who switched to Android because of an app situation (Angry Birds, can you believe it???)!!! How many Apps does someone really need? And when you break it down the vast majority are more than satisfactorily taken care of by the current set up. I've been keeping an eye on the dev community recently as my area of expertise overlaps with theirs and the one of the things that is truly eye opening is the absolute enthusiasm devs are embracing BBOS and the excitement over BB10. Again, if you purely relied on mainstream press you'd think that the entire BB app catalogue was being run solely by a spotty 12 year old in his parents' basement.
All I'm trying to say is this; things are tough for RIM right now but if you look outside North America things really aren't that bleak. It's a shame that we've accepted that one country is the be all and end all and the press has us believing that what goes on there MUST represent what's going on elsewhere. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Last edited by Mann Incognito; 06-16-2012 at 07:44 AM. Reason: Speeling and gramatickly incorrigible
Has a car phone
very nice thread. I agree with your sentiments exactly, however I think the use is also more common in Canada vs the USA. I agree with the deliberate bashing of the company and have thought at its all time low that it would be a good time to invest possibly. I know android seems to be very popular, but that is likely skewed by a lot of the tech savvy people are the ones who are in internet forums who post and represent their ownership, but may not makeup the collection of real world users, who many use and rely on Blackberry.
I have a blue tooth
Nice observation. I'm surprised that you didn't notice tha BB stand right at the north entrance sub level of BMO tower just by Adelaide entrance 1 floor down.
Also depending on the time of day, day of the week or if a particular event or show being held in the financial core - you ARE going to see BB's more than anything else for the following reasons:
Financial contracts still bind business to carriers; think of canceling 650+ BB contracts just 1/2yrs in?!!!
Most haven't looked at any MDM solutions, not to mention a few BES admins may loose their jobs if not needed; most admins other than Exchange/Domino certs may not have much to offer - much cheaper to bring an experience admin knowing the infrastructure, and can offer implementation of unified communications (corp phone on mobile, audio vm emails, IM tied to VC). Our admins upgraded their training as the time it took to bring in new staff is just out of the question and well our main policy states its NOT our way.
Also too many corps pay useless $$ to PM's just to implement an MDM solution; PM's are NOT needed!!!
Technology in the financial corporate space is implemented at a slow pace after testing; I know as I used to work for BMO (both trade floor and Harris). Good teams at each by knowledgeable but implementation takes time as it affects them at a much larger scale than say a hospital, small venture capitl startup, etc.
The KEY thing you also need to realize is the target market of those using iPhones/Androids, most of the time and looking at large size corporations vs smaller mid/small business those of youth (under 35) are not in power to influence.
Still you have a good observation, and maybe you need to get a certification to turn this hobby into something that can pay YOU: analyst seems to get paid a lot for not knowing jack, think how much you could make above them.
Why yes, that is a bag phone
I did see them facing toward that food court which leads to King subway. I saw them elsewhere later in the week. I took a quick peek and they seemed to be showing off a 9900 and that new music thing. I didn't chat.
But you're correct, I didn't expect to see anything other than a vast preponderance of BBs being used. What I didn't expect was to see so many BBs being used, completely caught me off guard.
As to career in survey taking, I think I'll pass. I have too many opinions in which I'm convinced I'm 100% right, even when faced with evidence to suggest otherwise. I don't think that's a quality that a public opinion company is particularly enamoured with
Last edited by Mann Incognito; 06-17-2012 at 03:26 PM.
Where's the dialtone?
I (we) use Blackberry phones for all we do as well. It is just to easy, uniform and...well, I am familiar with it. The "Newest and silly faced" phone does not move me as it might some 13 year old. I use my telephone for business, MY business. Blackberry has a few kinks to work out, they all do. But it has yet to fail me.
If it aint broke, don't fix it.
Don, Las Vegas
Why yes, that is a bag phone
This is the same I see on a daily basis. Adults who work in corporations or have thie own small business use BBs. Its really that simple. Try and answer this forum post with anything more than 4 sentences on an iPhone or Android? Not at the office and receive an email about some situation that is blowing up due to a misunderstanding or misinformation? Try typing the details in 3 paragraphs on an Android phone. There are a lot of phones used by kids that are multimedia phones (music, video, texting,) that are being put in the same category as smart phones. But if you go to a conference or are at a coffee shop where small business owners congregate or are in business class on flight it becomes obvious what phone leads the adult pack.
Before you start PMing people about Flashing Your BB make sure you read the three threads below completely.
Flash Your BB (High Level) http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1565865
Flash Your BB (Detail Level + Service Books) http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1600276
Aerize WiFix http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1576903
Why yes, that is a bag phone
Other than apps specific to certain corporations (banks for instance), I have not had too many problems finding the apps I need. I think a lot of mainstream reporters have BBs and long for iPhones or Androids.
Mobile phone addict
So from my rather unscientific look around at folks working for the tech company I work for in Seattle, I could pretty much conclude blackberry is dead, that most people are using iPhones and Androids getting their corporate email via activesync. Recently, WP7 has become almost as common as BB, but both are still pretty rare.
I certainly manage as well as I did on my last BB with an Android phone with a keyboard. Couldn't really see myself going with a keyboardless phone for corporate email.
"I didn't get fat by accident. This was a personal choice. " - Kevin Gillespie
I've climbed a cellphone tower
I would like to point out that the platforms you see will change based on where you happen to be. The types of people who are in attendance.
For example; if you happen to be attending a blackberry convention, then you are likely to see a higher than usual concentration of rim hardware vs. anyone else.
The "toronto business" crowd is still very much locked in to rim products, and these stuffed shirts have teenage daughters who talk them into iJunk. The actual sales figures don't lie - Android is above 55% market share globally (more than DOUBLE its nearest competitor), RIM is sitting around 7% AND STILL FALLING. Even SYMBIAN, peaked at about 65% in 2007, been in a near freefall nosedive ever since, now barely over RIM at about 9%.
Here is the big important thing to recognize; vendor lock-in is a TEMPORARY phenomenon. Especially when your platform is selling so poorly. Any vendor of mobile software would be completely retarded not to support Android (most importantly), so it isn't a long road towards breaking that lock-in.
Downloaded Skyfire: Don't believe the Hype!
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