Whilst waiting for a friend last weekend at London Bridge station I noticed a group of young girls flocking to the Starbucks whilst texting on their shiny Blackberry devices.
Yes, you read that correctly.
A while ago, I was at a concert of The National in the Royal Albert Hall in London and I was sitting next to two 16 year old girls each updating their Facebook on their Blackberries during the performance.
Has Blackberry become the new cool kid on the block? I’ve discussed this with some people I know and one person explained it as business men that want to become cool and opt for the iPhone and youngsters wanting to be the new “all busy and important” and go for the corporate Blackberry.
I didn’t find that explanation very satisfying and kept asking further. One told me that the battery life of a Blackberry is much better under heavy usage than the iPhone. I can imagine if you are continuously checking Facebook and sending texts that this is an important requirement. My colleague Jodi who was also at that concert told me “have you thought about the fact that it might be cheaper to have a Blackberry than an iPhone?” That did raise my eyebrows because Blackberries and their associated data plans don’t have a reputation of being cheap, at least not in countries where I come from: Belgium and the Netherlands.
So, I did a little research on the UK O2 online store (http://shop.o2.co.uk) and compared the Blackberry and iPhone costs and contracts with following characteristics: 100 minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited Internet, 24 month contract
- Blackberry 8520: £20 / month + £0 for device
- iPhone 3GS 16 GB: £25 / month + £249 for device
I’m not sure whether the £5 / month price difference is that important, but I can imagine that the £249 initial cost for the iPhone is a bit steep.
Somehow it feels too easy to just conclude that price is the only reason why young girls seem to opt for Blackberries instead of iPhones. Any thoughts on this matter?
*Update 31 May 2010 6.30 PM GMT*
Reaction on Twitter from @timyoung: “@SameerPatel @leeprovoost post misses it. It’s not about the battery it is about bbming. #askagenY 
”
Could it be that a proprietary messaging app from a business phone is the driving factor for adoption amongst young girls? When a few “cool girls” start with having one, it can quite quickly become the next must-have in order to be part of the clique. But how did it start in the first place?
*Update 31 May 2010 7.30 PM GMT*
Check also @sameerpatel‘s just published “RIM’s BBM – The iPhones Achilles’ Heel?” as a potential answer to my question
I must agree with @timyoung, it is not about the corporate look, but it is all about the BBM. By using the BBM, they are making something like a privilege group which consist of their closed friends. I want to argue that it has no difference with installing E-buddy in your IPhone, but still the BBM works like a charm because of its push support. BBM is instantly logged in when your phone turns on. The user experience is seamless.
With BBM, you can text friends in your group simultaneously. Think of it like a closed version of Twitter.
One thing that I notice, teenager sms a lot, and by using BBM, they eliminate the cost of having sms bundle plus SMS is so 90s
I recently bought Blackberry Bold 9700 and I think the design of the device is sleek and elegant. Its small yet the keyboard is so handy if you text a lot! I dont care about the push mail feature, but I got a lot of message from my social friends via BBM.
Blackberry sells really good especially in Asian country. I come from Indonesia, and everyone there used Blackberry
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/blackberry-apple-battle-over-indonesia/366484
IPhone is considered too pricey in Asian country. Its sales flops in India and China.
Nokia in the other hand still has a lot to do to bring its user interface design to next level **sory Nokia, I was your fans**
Great article Lee! And I was going to give you the answer before I reached the end of the article but you found the answer yourself. BBM is extraordinary. As we are growing up in an age of communication, BBM, along with the actual built and function of a BlackBerry, are built for ultimate communication. And although many products are trying to mirror BlackBerry it’s quite not the same thing.
And as Erick mentioned in the comment, iPhones flopped in China however BlackBerry absolutely took off. This could be do to the fact that older model BlackBerry’s are cheaper but just as efficient and have all the same perks as new ones. Although Apple products are great, I have only good things to say about my BlackBerry
Thanks guys for the replies. I guess the Blackberry trend amongst youngsters is already going on for a longer period in Asian countries where iPhone is just too expensive? I’ve only noticed it quite recently happening in London… (but then again, I’m unfortunately not part of the young hip 16 somethings anymore :-p )
I recently sold my old blackberry on craigslist and a high schooler bought it. I asked him why he was getting a blackberry and he said “the geeks have iphones, the rest of us just want messenger [BBM] and TXTing”….
Not having an app like BBM installed by default is a big mistake made by apple and I have been saying that since the beginning. It eliminates TXTing fees (major upside — that is an extra savings every month right there) and confirms delivery.
Apple could have reinvented things with an iChat on every iphone, but I have a feeling that AT&T didn’t like that idea and pushed them towards TXT only.
@Jevon PingChat (http://www.pingchat.com/) is already used by certain people on iPhone (some friends of mine use it) because it allows you to do free texting to people in other countries. I’m very much intrigued how BB managed to become the “cool phone” amongst young people for reasons you wouldn’t expect at first.