Eventually, I will get around to talking about how people will still be able to do their jobs when Research in Motion starts to put memory slots into “select” BlackBerry models just as soon as I come back from the serious tangent that I am about to go on.

Years ago I once worked in a fast food establishment. Burger King was name. I remember going through my training and on the second day, I believe, we talked about the drive through upsell. This was back before the time of the value meal and people actually ordered by telling you exactly what they wanted. If someone came through the the drive through and said ” I want a Whopper with cheese and a Coke” we were supposed to wait about 1 second and ask them, “Would you like fries with that?”

About 65% of the time, the customer would say sure, pull up to the window, pay, their money, get their food (back in those days there was just the one window that you paid and got your food from), and drive off on their merry way.

You are probably asking yourself “What in the world does this have to do with memory slots on Blackberries?”
In all honesty, nothing really. The point that I am trying to make, however, is that if 65% of customers said yes, 35% said no. Why would anyone ever say no to such a tasty treat like Burger King french fries? My guess is that they worked in a government building that didn’t allow french fries on the premises. The true point, however, is that the customer had a choice. If a customer couldn’t get passed their security check point with fries, we were more than happy to sell them just a Whopper with cheese and a Coke.

So what does this mean for BlackBerry users that work in secure environments that aren’t allowed to use mobile devices with removable memory slots? Simply put, you have a choice. RIM, undoubtedly, will continue to make BlackBerries that meet the security requirements of government and corporate customers with such restrictions. They will, however, start to make devices that individual consumers think are cool too. Believe it or not, the two are not mutually exclusive.