I'm in Colombia this week to give a talk, and I was asking people about their phones. Turns out that if you've got lots of money to spend on your phone, you get an iPhone, if you've got some money, you get an android, and if you're poor or working class you get a blackberry.
It's fascinating that blackberry has moved from the phone of business, to the phone of the poor and youth.
Heh, no, that demographic gets BlackBerrys because rappers like Jay-Z rap about them, they are an accessory, the same demographic buys Rolexes while people who actually have money to spend on a watch get a Patek Phillippe.
It's not often this flavor of condescending twattery makes it to HN.
Why do you think Jay-Z raps about/endorses it? If the answer is as simple as, "He's paid to," then surely he'd be rapping about other brands beyond the traditional Escalade/Cristal/etc. The real answer is that Blackberry is an inexpensive smart phone option that is not the "white and corporate" option. You've got an unrealistic idea of what poor and urban looks like and acts like.
A Blackberry IS an accessory, but only because it's considered a symbol of being part of a particular group, not because rappers endorse it.
"Real money buys Patek Phillippe." Give me a break.
Encore was released in 2003, long before BB was the "inexpensive smartphone".
Jay-Z is a businessman first and foremost. Kids don't care about Exchange integration or whatever. He namechecks the brands he likes (as far as I know, he has no official relationship with the brand) and his fans buy them. Same with Rolex, I don't think they have marketing arrangement with any rappers but they get namechecked all the time.
Why play the race card? Living in London you will see that "urban youth" comes in all shades. They don't buy BB because it is the cheapest (it isn't) or "the best" (for whatever values of best), but because it's fashionable, because style icons for whatever reason have adopted it. I don't know why you want to argue with this.
FWIW I have a BB myself, I am certainly not disparaging anyone else who has one...
It's fascinating that blackberry has moved from the phone of business, to the phone of the poor and youth.