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A comment on What's really wrong with BlackBerry.

Re:What's really wrong with BlackBerry by SandB0x on Sunday December 12, 2010 @06:47AM (#1996937)
In the last year I have seen a lot of new BlackBerry users in London. However, the majority of these have been teenagers on the bus using some entry level model, which is available on pay-as-you-go, or with a very cheap contract. I get the impression this was not their first choice of phone, and I think this (anecdotal evidence) matches the author's analysis.

All the older BlackBerry users I know have switched to iPhone/Android, and at most carry their BB as a secondary, mandated work phone. One friend complained that "it's like they took an old desktop pc and just decided to shrink all the icons".

I hope RIM can pull it together but it doesn't sound too healthy.

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Re:What's really wrong with BlackBerry by rahoulb on Sunday December 12, 2010 @08:42AM (#1997062)
Blackberries are certainly the phone of choice for teenagers in the UK at the moment. According to my daughter this is entirely because of BBM
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Re:What's really wrong with BlackBerry by Stormbringer on Sunday December 12, 2010 @07:07AM (#1996945)
Apparently RIM has its own replacement for SMS that is dirt cheap, and this is what attracts the (extremely price sensitive) teens.

Not all teens are price sensitive of course, but those who are will get buried by outrageous SMS fees

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Re:What's really wrong with BlackBerry by halo on Sunday December 12, 2010 @09:21AM (#1997112)
SMS is dirt cheap in Europe.
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Re:What's really wrong with BlackBerry by wagerlabs on Sunday December 12, 2010 @05:37PM (#1998315)
17-18 cents (in Spain) is nowhere cheap. It's 60 cents if I want to SMS my daughter in the States. I'm actually considering buying both of us Blackberries for that very reason.

I could (sort of) do BBM with iPhone push notifications and a universal messaging app like IM+. Unfortunately, I can see my battery life drain away (literally!) while running IM+.

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