Quite a few of us expats, along with many Spanish nationals, have Blackberry smartphones.
Setting up with PAYG for the BIS in Spain can sometimes be initially more expensive than with other smartphones, as it requires a special service (and the cheaper service providers often don't offer this), but once set up, using a Blackberry for collecting emails, notices and messages is at most times cheaper than your average smartphone, as the Blackberry Internet Service works upon highly compressed data.
However, Blackberry users may not have this advantage much longer.
RIM (Research in Motion) is in serious financial difficulty and the launching of the newest Blackberry OS - Blackberry 10 - is being delayed indefinitely.
Talks of millions being lost daily and of a takeover are in the air...
Why am I posting this here?
Well, I like using my Blackberry and, against other smartphones you can use in Spain, it does appear to use much less data (and therefore costs me less).
But the ongoing talk about the troubles with RIM is not exactly inspiring confidence - to Blackberry fans and to potential new users.
This could make a situation whereby less Blackberries are sold (and of course, Apple and the Android market take full advantage).
If an Android supplier takes over RIM, I see a time in the not too distant future where owning a Blackberry will have no real advantage and new models will become complete Android copies.
Any thoughts from Blackberry fans here?
Jul 1, 2012 · foxbat
Not a Blackberry fan, nor indeed a smartphone fan but...
It struck me that if one is effectively forking out over 450? for the latest all singing, all dancing, all the bells and whistles, smartphone that probably costs a mere 50? to produce in some Taiwanese / Chinese / Filipino / Malaysian sweatshop it's not something that you are going to do every year... rather one will use it til it breaks (unless of course one is taken in by all the hype and advertising "You simply must have this" "Your life is empty without this" "You are a loser if you don't have this" etc etc...
The problem is of course then that the manufacturers have an ever decreasing market.
There are too many manufacturers producing too many versions of what is basically the same item (Samsung this, Samsung that; Blackberry this, Blackberry that, Apple this, Apple that; Nokia this Nokia that, to name but four, too many competing operating systems and the customer is constantly bombarded with very heavy commercials from mobile phone companies.
It is my prediction that ultimately Blackberry will go under, will probably taken over and asset stripped by Microsoft; Microsoft's Windows phones will also fail in due course, Nokia sales have fallen worldwide by 75% over the last couple of years so they too need to take a long hard look at their future.
One will, I predict, be left with Android (and probably just Samsung) v. Apple.
Its my contention that Apple always grossly overcharged for their products (Computers, Iphones, Ipads, and Ipods) and used the gullible punters as guinea pigs to field trial new variants that they produce long before the development program is complete. As the recession bites even further into peoples disposable income, Apple too will come under pressure from Android. If Andoid manufacturers don't get too greedy in what is becoming a diminishing market they could eventually be Top Dog.
When you get right down to it, the average punter doesn't need all the bells and whistles; first and foremost to me at any rate, its a bloody phone!
It struck me that if one is effectively forking out over 450? for the latest all singing, all dancing, all the bells and whistles, smartphone that probably costs a mere 50? to produce in some Taiwanese / Chinese / Filipino / Malaysian sweatshop it's not something that you are going to do every year... rather one will use it til it breaks (unless of course one is taken in by all the hype and advertising "You simply must have this" "Your life is empty without this" "You are a loser if you don't have this" etc etc...
The problem is of course then that the manufacturers have an ever decreasing market.
There are too many manufacturers producing too many versions of what is basically the same item (Samsung this, Samsung that; Blackberry this, Blackberry that, Apple this, Apple that; Nokia this Nokia that, to name but four, too many competing operating systems and the customer is constantly bombarded with very heavy commercials from mobile phone companies.
It is my prediction that ultimately Blackberry will go under, will probably taken over and asset stripped by Microsoft; Microsoft's Windows phones will also fail in due course, Nokia sales have fallen worldwide by 75% over the last couple of years so they too need to take a long hard look at their future.
One will, I predict, be left with Android (and probably just Samsung) v. Apple.
Its my contention that Apple always grossly overcharged for their products (Computers, Iphones, Ipads, and Ipods) and used the gullible punters as guinea pigs to field trial new variants that they produce long before the development program is complete. As the recession bites even further into peoples disposable income, Apple too will come under pressure from Android. If Andoid manufacturers don't get too greedy in what is becoming a diminishing market they could eventually be Top Dog.
When you get right down to it, the average punter doesn't need all the bells and whistles; first and foremost to me at any rate, its a bloody phone!