The BlackBerry Pearl, which debuted on T-Mobile’s network last month has been one hottest, if not the hottest, selling BlackBerrys to date. The Pearl is one of the major factors in Research in Motion’s recent run up on the stock market. RIM’s stock price at the time of this writing is $116.83, up 3.23% today alone.
Everyone is talking about the BlackBerry Pearl. First time consumer BlackBerry users seem to be buying the Pearl left and right. The BlackBerry Pearl is arguably the most significant smart phone to come out in the last 18 months, yet the marketing of the Pearl from RIM and T-Mobile has been modest at best. At least until recently…
[click to continue…]
According to a study cited in BrandWeek.com the BlackBerry is on a bit of a slide as far as brand loyalty goes, moving from the No. 6 spot down to 17. The BlackBerry didn’t fall as far as the Treo, however, as it fell from 4 down to 23.
“There are more choices”, said Allyn Hall director of consumer markets at In-Stat, Scottsdale, Ariz. “Blackberry had a monopoly for a while; they were the first to make receiving e-mail using a mobile device practical. There are a ton of alternatives now and more in the chute.”
I am going to go out on a limb and assume that this study was conducted before the release of the BlackBerry Pearl and the BlackBerry 8703e. My theory is a lot of BlackBerry users, especially those on Verizon and Sprint, started to explore other possibilities, not so much because they didn’t want a BlackBerry any longer, but, because they had their BlackBerry 7250 devices for a few years, wanted something new, and were very limited on new BlackBerrys that they could move to.
I would be willing to bet that if the BlackBerry 8703e or even the BlackBerry Pearl were available back when this study was conducted, you would see a much lower ranking for the BlackBerry than what you do now.
A couple of weeks or so ago I read a column in ComputerWorld by Paul Glen titled “How Indispensable Should You Be?“. One of the the things that I found most interesting was Paul’s theory on how new information technology tools such as the BlackBerry encourage a cyclical co-dependance on them as compared to providing the benefits that we all think they do.
Paul basically states the always on, always reachable technology behind a device like a BlackBerry actually makes employees less independent than the would be if they didn’t feel that they could get to their manager 24/7.
Often, staffers like this setup. Its lower-risk for them and requires less work. Whenever something comes up, just contact the boss.
[click to continue…]
I while back I wrote a post about why Bluetooth Blackberry keyboards are not that practical and if I had a digital camera in my BlackBerry I would have taken a picture that would have illustrated this point perfectly.
I saw a guy trying to use a wireless keyboard with what looked like a BlackBerry 8700c. We were sitting on a bus from the airport terminal to the car rental place and as the bus moved, the gentleman found it increasingly difficult to balance the BlackBerry on one knee while trying to type on the keyboard on the other. Finally, he reached into his bag, pulled out his laptop, and used the laptop as a tray to hold the keyboard and the BlackBerry so that he could type his message.
This was funny to me and I thought that I’d share. You would probably would have thought it was funny too if you were looking at a picture of a dude using a laptop as a tray for his BlackBerry and wireless Bluetooth keyboard.
Please Verizon, come out with BlackBerry with camera in it soon….
Back in June we blogged about a BlackBerry Bounty being set up by software developer Alex King to come up with a way to tether a BlackBerry 8700 to a Mac as a modem. So far Alex has no takers and there are only 5 days left before the September 30th deadline.
If you have any programming skills and could use the extra cash, give it a shot. It’s only $610, however, if you figure it out, thousands of BlackBerry carrying MacAddicts will love you and chant your name.
Read more…
Earlier this week the American Physical Therapy Association added “BlackBerry Thumb” to its list of officially recognized medical ailments.
Most BlackBerry users know that if you type on your BlackBerry for too long your thumbs start to hurt. If you type on your BlackBerry until your thumbs hurt day in and day out, you get BlackBerry Thumb.
Now that Blackberry Thumb is an officially recognized medical problem do you think that claims for work related repetitive stress injuries will go up? Do you think that we will see Worker’s Compensation claims due to the use of the BlackBerry? Well, with the sue, sue, sue mentality here in the United States, if we haven’t already seen a claim, I am sure that we will soon.
Read more…
BlackBerry Thumb
According to CNN.com, Federal authorities diverted a San-Francisco-bound United Airlines jet on its way from Atlanta to Dallas Monday after finding an unclaimed BlackBerry on board.
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said that the aircraft was secure and that there was no indication that the BlackBerry was being used as a remote trigger for an explosive device and that United flight 351 was diverted to Dallas “out of an abundance of caution.”
The flight was diverted on the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. Authorities decided not to send military fighter aircraft to escort the jet, as is routine during an emergency, said Lt. Col. John Cornelio, a spokesman for U.S. Northern Command.
I guess it’s always better to be safe than sorry. What a world we live in these days…
United 351
It looks like BlackBerry insider extraodinair, Boy Genius, decided, like Pharrell, that one of the most “baller-iffic” (see Lost Episodes of the Dave Chapelle Show for a definition of baller-iffic) things you can do is bling out your BlackBerry with 18k gold. If you are a baller and can stand the the bit of signal loss, Jacob the Jewler can hook you up…
Take a look at the back
[click to continue…]
Gayle Porter, Associate Professor of Management at the Rutgers-Camden School of Business, you know, the researcher that says that BlackBerrys are addictive and that if you become hooked, your company could be liable, was on MSNBC’s Squawk Box this morning.
Let’s see… I pretty much check my BlackBerry whenever an email comes in. I use my BlackBerry for work in the evenings and on the weekends for. If I forget my BlackBerry at home, I feel crappy about it. I even wrote a post about being addicted to my BlackBerry almost a year a go.
I don’t, however, check email while in mid sentence, shun away from normal human interaction for using my BlackBerry, and have the ability to go for extended periods of time (days or weeks even) without having my BlackBerry within in 30 feet.
I probably don’t have a case.