Last week was one for the record books when it comes to smartphones. With that in mind, I wrote a guest post about what’s happening at Blackberry for TheMobileFarmer.com. I encourage you to read it, particularly if you haven’t been closely following smartphone news in the past week as Blackberry had major announcements and Nielson released a major study on the growth of smart phone use. I don’t intend to duplicate the efforts here but thought I’d point out some of the personal pieces.
goodbye Blackberry
I think for a lot of the loyal Blackberry users, the end has been coming for a while. That’s certainly the case for me and others. For years I was pumped to have a Blackberry. In recent years I was accepting of having it. After all, I have one as part of a corporate plan and the fact it was supplied by the company was fine with me. No need to incur a personal expense if it wasn’t necessary. However in the last year or so, more and more corporate users have been making a move to other technologies because Blackberry stopped innovating. No new programs to run. No hardware advancements that resulted in even close to the new tech leaders Apple & Android. I personally know dozens of people who have decided to purchase one of these phones at their personal expense to simply keep up. (Yes, I too made the move and without pomp & circumstance am willing to admit to becoming a iPhone user.) continue reading An Innovator Rapidly Lost Relevance in the Tech Boom | The Mobile Farmer.
Yes, so there it is, I’ve put it out there. As I told a couple of friends, I’ve extended my membership in the iCult by becoming an iPhone user. And just like that, I’ve become a part of a long-time debate of Android or iPhone. Its not the most critical decision I made in the past week but I didn’t do it lightly either. So, since there has been some interest in how I arrived at such a (intelligent or incorrect) decision, I’ll tell you some of the factors that led to my personal choice:
- The big thing for me was to get something that better suited my use of social media, etc. Either Droid or iPhone would work just fine.
- I wanted a device that could be put on my work account. That meant some checks with the office and either Droid or iPhone would work well.
- I already have an iPad and love that there are synergies with sharing across the two devices. I have huge amounts of music already on my iPod (almost 20k songs actually) and like the use of iCloud to synchronize what’s on the two devices.
- With previous Apple experience, I’ve gotten great service whenever I had an issue. My expectation remains.
And although I joked about being part of the iCult or #teamiPhone, it really is still just a tool. A good tool, but nonetheless a tool. It doesn’t define me as a person nor do I judge others by the phone they carry. I have been fine using Blackberry for years and don’t apologize for it. Heck, I really have kicked butt with that thing! I know people who have phones without cameras. They are fine too.
Picking something that works for what you need is more important than the other. And yes, a bunch of folks joke about the alliances formed over smartphone choices, but I’ve never chosen friends based on the things they have, I value the people they are first & foremost. And I respect that they may make different choices that are better for them. I also appreciate great senses of humor and the winks that go with smartitude. That’s not just my philosophy on phones, its my philosophy on lots of things. How about you?
Dead gum….. As soon as I make the jump from dumb phone to smart phone (not necessarily a move up) the phone I get becomes an antique…. Well looks like my contract has me tied in for another 1.5 years…
You are fine you goofball! My BB was having issues and I wasn’t tied to a contract anymore. Forgot to mention that above!
Welcome to the iWorld! I’ve had all three types of smartphones. Loved the Blackberry as my first smartphone, hated the Droid…and LOVE my iPhone! iPhone and iPad are great tools.
You know how quickly I became addicted to my iPad! This isn’t close… I have to say, the newness of iPad was huge! This is good and I’m really happy with it but I don’t have to use it necessarily
I LOVE my “dumb”phone, so much so I gave my husband my last upgrade (and his droid is just for personal goofing off, he has a Nextel provided by his job). Problem now is that when I do upgrade, smartphones are the only option nowadays. I do have to admit though that I am starting to come around to the idea having everything right there at my fingertips. It would be handy to search for the closest coffee shop, hotel, etc… or to look up the definition of a word I don’t know (there are a lot of them :P) right there on the spot.
I love you and totally embrace your dumbphone darlin! I bet I could find you a dumbphone in another part of the world while traveling if you really want to stay email free.
Hi Janice
found your site, it is quite interesting, I have had BB for years and I am quite a follower of BB phones, especially as I like to still push buttons, I primarily use it for work and e-mail and texting, the occasional news update. I have always enjoyed the quality of the devices. I am also however, thinking of going over to ‘smart phones’ have not as yet made up my mind, I have a few months to finally take the plunge as I am on a personal contract. I do now want a travelling companion such as a tablet, but unsure as to which one to purchase, I Pad or playbook. As Rim is slipping down the markets in tune with technology and reference to your blog, I just don’t know what direction they will take, is the play book a bad investment or a good one? I like the IPad but the expense for not heavy usage bothers me whereas the play book is a bit of a whiz for half the cost, the down side is no skype or face time as like the IPod/IPad? I have the IPod and I travel extensively so it is my best friend , again you blog picks up the benefit of having cloud and music and other apple device sync and so on. So I have a little problem-which to get? if only Rim would sort itself out !
nice site you have. keep up the work.
John, lots of great questions on the tablet side of things. I haven’t had a chance to play around with a play book. I have he iPad and love it. Have lots of friends with iPad and Droid tablets too. Not sure I can tell you what will work best for you but I think you may find more info on a friend’s site http://themobilefarmer.comCause one of his friends is an avid blackberry person. For me, I thought I wanted a keyboard but found the touch screen works really well…. Far better than expected!