I just switched from an android device to a BB9900 and it does exactly what I need. Hasn't crashed a single time yet (vs the weekly crashes on my Android phone), the keyboard is wonderful, battery life is fine (~ 3 days) and the core features work flawlessly (messaging, email, calendar etc).
I don't see RIM competing successfully in an environment where Angry Birds & Plants vs Zombies is a crucial part of the experience though so I'm not all that optimistic with regard to their future. Smartphones have gone mainstream and the mainstream wants Angry Birds not encryption.
> .. where Angry Birds & Plants vs Zombies is a crucial part of the experience ..
Also any person who has a paid library of apps with Apple or Google/Amazon would effectively be discarding that library if they switched to BlackBerry, and only be able to replace a small subset of it (at far greater cost). This means that BB has to offer not only an equivalent experience, but a far better one to get existing iOS/Android users to switch.
Getting the dwindling number of non-smartphone users to switch means fighting perceptions (many articles where the debate is how doomed they are), devices (Android variety, Apple "quality"), data service costs and convincing those users to "rebel".
I don't see RIM competing successfully in an environment where Angry Birds & Plants vs Zombies is a crucial part of the experience though so I'm not all that optimistic with regard to their future. Smartphones have gone mainstream and the mainstream wants Angry Birds not encryption.