

The Blackberry Shift: From the executive phone to the phone of the urban poor - rabble
http://anarchogeek.com/2011/08/11/the-blackberry-shift-from-executives-to-the-urban-poor/

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corin_

      It happened so fast that it’s hardly been noticed in the media.
      RIM may not even know it themselves.
    

The suggestion that RIM may not know about it shows complete lack of
knowledge, it's obvious from the marketing over the past two years that not
only do they know it, they made it happen.

See for example <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnysB4BC5Ng> and
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvYlENP50jA> and
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvqlZzhZb4Y> and
[http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/media/tracyandmatts_blog...](http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/media/tracyandmatts_blog/windowslivewriter/blackberrycurve3g9300review_107b6/bbm_2.jpg)

As to the media not noticing... well I've seen them notice it on numerous
occasions. I don't recall if I've read an entire piece based around this one
subject, but I've seen it mentioned _many_ times as a note in a piece about
RIM, or about a certain phone, or whatever.

Edit: here's another example which answers both points,
<http://www.slate.com/id/2213555/> (Blackberry sponsoring U2 tour). Not only
is that a demonstration of Blackberry targeting this new wider audience, in
March 2009, it's also an example of the media noticing.

~~~
digamber_kamat
I dont think RIM has failed to notice it. In fact in countries like India RIM
has launched phones that cost lowest in the smartphone segment just $200.

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Duff
Funny, because for a long time executives used BlackBerry devices to avoid
litigation hold/e-discovery considerations.

BBM's are popular with certain types of "entrepreneurs" for the same reason
that Nextel/Boost direct connect was -- they are difficult/impossible to
intercept.

~~~
gaius
Not necessarily - so long as RIM are willing to get involved:
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/08/blackberry_riots/>

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dadads
I could attest to some of the stuff this guy says. In a certain southeast-
asian country, everyone is using Blackberries not because they're cool but
because unlimited text-messaging plans makes them really cheap.

~~~
rednaught
If you travel in more than just...ahem...Indonesia(I'm presuming), you'll
notice they are "everywhere" in multiple SE Asian countries. As Nokia reigned
supreme from the 90's until just a few years ago, Blackberry has become the
new dumb smartphone with their Edge(or equivalent) network support. It will be
a long time before most of the world is on a 4G equivalent. RIM will do fine
for quite some time.

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chuinard
I've been using Google Voice for a year now. I haven't sent a text through ATT
for a few months now.

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d0ne
I keep two Blackberries handy, different providers, for reliable email receipt
and transmission as well as BBM as I'm frequently traveling between countries.

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danilocampos
Bluetooth cell phone headsets had a similar trajectory.

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electrichead
This is a pretty poorly substantiated article with racist undertones. How is
this on HN again?

~~~
DavidAdams
I agree that it's short on hard data. But I'm not sure I'm getting "racist."
Classist, maybe? But I guess you can't talk about class issues at all without
someone getting their panties in a wad.

It seems like there are some objective claims here that would be pretty easy
to refute. Is it true that Blackberry handsets and plans have become
inexpensive and are a good way for people without a lot of money to talk and
message without the kind of big monthly bill that plagues more well-heeled
people? Is it true that while richer people are not buying Blackberries
anymore, poorer people are?

Is it some kind of value judgement to point this out, as something that's
interesting to people who are interested in the mobile computing market?

~~~
keithpeter
Some numbers for uk

[http://kijamedia.com/2011/08/uk-mobile-phone-ownership-by-
br...](http://kijamedia.com/2011/08/uk-mobile-phone-ownership-by-brand/)

Anecdotal

[http://urbanmashup.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/the-london-
riots...](http://urbanmashup.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/the-london-riots-and-
blackberrys-bbm-part-2/)

