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I don't get BlackBerry.
OK, I do.
Well sort of.
The killer feature of BlackBerry is obviously push email. That goes without saying. And as such it is of great utility for professional use (where "professional" = "for use in a work environment"). So for people whose lives revolve around real-time email, BlackBerry is an "option" (as opposed to "solution").
So far so good.
Follow up:
However, if you remove that killer feature, or simply do not use push email and just look at the OS itself, is there any reason left to use the platform? In other words, is there any other reason, beyond push email, to buy a BlackBerry and use it simply as a consumer device?
If there is I certainly have not found it.
When the first BlackBerrys came out it seemed as if the OS was an afterthought, secondary to and merely a means for offering what the BlackBerry is really all about: push email. The OS was basic, the UI crude and the PIM functionality was very basic. But more to the point, its origins and the platform's raison d'être still shows through after all these years, no matter how many touch-screen devices RIM come up with or even if they add improved multimedia features. There is nothing in the OS that makes for a compelling enough reason for a regular consumer to chose a BlackBerry over any of the other platforms available currently; would anyone seriously argue that the BlackBerry OS could survive if it did not have push email?
I say this even though the front-facing QWERTY form factor, BlackBerry's specialty, is probably my favorite, and BlackBerry use high-resolution screens for their QWERTY devices. Take the new Bold 9700 for example, which has a really nice form factor, but, again, why you anyone pick it over the new Nokia E72 if you are not interested in real-time email?
At the end of the day BlackBerry is a one trick pony: push email. Everything else is secondary. And that fact alone makes it, in my book, probably the least interesting platform of them all.
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I take it it's a service that is part of the BES (BB Enterprise Server), just like the email. If so, the broader question would be: would BlackBerry as a platform be able to exist without the services provided by their own servers?
I guess that question is somewhat akin to "Would the iPhone be able to survive without iTunes and the AppStore?", or "Would Windows Mobile survive without Exchange?" In the first case, yes; in the latter, most likely (as PocketPC existed long before WM, battling it out with Palm). In BlackBerry's case, I honestly doubt it very much.
If you think the only worthwhile feature of a blackberry handset is some server service you clearly have no business commenting on smartphones in general.
But if you think that the BlackBerry OS could/would exist without the ecosystem of RIM's own servers and services, and on what grounds and/or merits, you are welcome to lose another ten minutes of your life and post here again. I would be genuinely interested in reading it.
At that time the Pearl was a pretty good smartphone compared to what else was available on the market, with strong PIM capabilities and a much simpler interface and far more stable platform than Windows Mobile, which was the main competition in the smartphone market at the time.
But again, the reason most people at the time grew to love their CrackBerries was because of its messaging capabilites, not including push email which is only generally available through a corporate BES. When the Curve 8300 was released the following year this position was only strengthened as consumers got to use a truly exceptional QWERTY keyboard on a mobile device for probably the first time. RIM continued to add features, like wifi, gps, and decent media and camera capabilities, which again made BlackBErries even more attractive as consumer devices.
Then the iPhone debuted, and the smartphone market was turned on its head as people started to realize what a phenomenal user experience was actually possible.
Now that the iPhone and Android have revolutionized the smartphone market, RIM have failed to keep up and the only advantage they still hold for consumers (not considering corporate use) is typing and messaging. RIM's QWERTY keyboards are still the industry standard, I'm typing this on a Curve 8900 and there's just no comparison with any virtual keyboard or slide-out on any other device, bar none.
Unfortunately, RIM is in danger of losing serious market share among consumers unless they can start to provide as compelling of a user experience as Apple and Android.
For the non-business user this is the killer app. I know tons of non-techy people and teens owning and buying blackberries just because they want to talk to their friends on that blackberry messenger thingy.
Yes bbm doesn't offer a lot more than gtalk/aim/msn/etc. But it does work the same on all crackberries, sending contacts pictures appointments etc is very handy. Those other services can do that, but not on all phonesan and require a data plan. Most bb plans offer bbm even if you don't take data. The other thing is that anyone who has a bb uses bbm. But on other phones, some people use aim, some gtalk, and so on.
I played with a buddies 3gs today, and it is very smooth. Much fater and smoother than my 8900. But I still wouldn't trade, I like the physical keyboard, and more efficient PIM (even if mu notes look like raw text, while iphones look like a handwritten note, on 20lbs yellow paper with brown rule).
But I do pine for a faster cpu and more eye candy. I am hoping the 9700 gives me that, otherwise I may end up swithing to the douche phone.
~S