There is a sudden influx of South Africans purchasing Blackberry phones. According to Vodacom, 350 000 BlackBerry phones have been sold in South Africa and this is said to increase. If you don’t have a Blackberry, you wishing you had one. I don’t own a Blackberry and I have to admit, I feel rather left out. My humble Nokia 6300 (a replacement phone after my BeatBox M3200 was missing one too many beats in its box) is holding itself together with prestik and I am lucky if the battery will last the day. The Blackberry phones are clearly out of its league.
I first started to notice the popularity of the BlackBerry phone when I came across a number of Facebook status’s that said “bbm” me (BlackBerry messenger) with their BlackBerry pin to follow. Another person in particular, said on Facebook, “bbm me if you dare” with his BlackBerry pin to follow.
My sister recently had her birthday. She was lucky enough to get her very own blackberry as a present. She claims it’s the best present she has ever received. I think she might be overreacting (can you sense some jealously?) but nonetheless, her phone has become her new prize possession. So, what is the reason for the popularity of this phone?
As much as I would like to say terrible things about BlackBerry phones, out of spite of not having one, I have to admit the phone has a lot to offer.
Applications
Firstly, there is a wide range of applications for BlackBerry phones. Although, BlackBerry phones come with a number of applications pre-installed and many more can be downloaded allowing you to choose the applications you want. Applications enable the user to connect, for example, to social network sites such as Facebook.
Furthermore, free music applications can be downloaded such as Tunewiki which is a music player that shows the lyrics to the music you have on your BlackBerry phone. Free sports applications such as Sports Illustrated and other applications, including Google map application, can also be downloaded. More importantly you can install BlackBerry App World which is a program used to find applications and games that could be useful to you.
Besides the applications, the calendar is a useful tool for every BlackBerry user. The BlackBerry even offers convenience keys in which you can set a preference to each key. This gives people ability to personalize their phone. The BlackBerry also allows you to customize your screen and keyboard by selecting the font, font size, key tones and by adjusting your trackball sensitivity to your liking.
It is also small and light and it is functional for business and personal use with its QWERTY keyboard. Some basic functions of the phone include camera, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.
But one of the biggest reasons that might have contributed to the popularity of the BlackBerry phones in South Africa is that some BlackBerry models are available on very basic contracts. It is, therefore, accessible to the whole contract market.
The BlackBerry seems to offer a wide range of opportunities and it allows for BlackBerry phone users to personalize their phone to their liking which I think would attract anyone to the BlackBerry phones. This still doesn’t really answer my previous question. Maybe it is just one of many fads that will fade. For now, it is popular and everyone wants them, including me.
Information on the BlackBerry phones extracted from http://www.blackberry.com/
Thanks to Louis for the picture. Follow Louis's photostream to view more images.
As a new media journalist I would recommend the Blackberry Torch when it hits our shores. It has powerful multimedia features (5MP video/camera), plus Blackberry's social media functionality and email push and BB apps. It's the combination of multimedia features and instant social media messaging that makes this a winner for mobile journalists. Not to mention that news organisations that buy this for their South African reporters get a phone that allows internet access capped at only R59 per month. I have not been able to find out when it will be released here though or what the price would be relative to the Nokia N97 . Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteAccording to MyBroadband, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 has finally arrived at Vodaworld. The phone was released in South Africa on the 5 October. The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is available on contact, free of charge on a BlackBerry Talk 100 package at R349 per month. This offers subscribers 100 anytime minutes and unlimited data usage. Vexon.co.za are charging R6 825.00, once off, for the BlackBeryy Torch 9800. This gives you an idea of the pricing of the phone. On the other hand, Vexon is charging 3570.00, once off, for the Nokia N97. So, there is quite a difference in price.
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