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While doing some much needed catching up on all things newsy this morning, I stumbled across this article on Memeburn, asking the question “Is 2014 the year BlackBerry makes its big comeback?”
I think they should instead be asking whether this is the year in which Blackberry will finally meet its demise.
There are obviously lots of technical, complicated things that I could go in to to strengthen my point, but I’m no expert on investments or stock markets. Although, it's pretty obvious that a company whose shares were once at R1500 and are now at a dismal R75 is not doing well.
But there are other, more obvious and every day things that convinces me that Blackberry will soon be a thing of the past.
First off? BBM is no longer restricted to Blackberries. As more and more people started using Samsungs and iPhones, Blackberry took the step to make the instant messaging service BBM available to other smartphone users. So, no need to have a Blackberry to BBM anymore.
Also, I’ve never understood why you would need BBM if you have Whatsapp. Yes, with BBM you can see when someone has read your message (those ticks on Whatsapp do not mean that your message has been read by the way. Here's proof.) but sometimes this is actually more like a punishment.
Haven’t you ever had those moments of “He read my message three hours ago and still hasn’t replied? He’s obviously not into me” or received a message from someone you’re trying to avoid, only to accidentally open it. Now you’re the one that’s not replying to something you’ve obviously read. It’s just way too complicated.
Secondly, South Africans went crazy when they heard that they would only need to pay something like R59 a month for unlimited data. I’ve heard that this is no longer the case with certain contracts. Now, just like with any other smart phone, many BB users have to buy data bundles that don’t necessarily translate into unlimited time on the web.
Thirdly, there are hundreds of apps that the poor Blackberry lovers just can’t use. Instagram, Snapchat, Gmail, Pinterest, Tumblr and Youtube are just a few of the apps that BB has yet to release official versions of. Seriously, for a smartphone, this isn’t very clever.
Sure, three reasons may not be all it takes for the BB ship to sink, but I think the future of the once powerful smartphone is pretty grim. We might be saying bye bye Blackberry sooner than we think.
Are you a Blackberry fan? Or do you wish yours would just break already so that you can get a new phone?
I think they should instead be asking whether this is the year in which Blackberry will finally meet its demise.
There are obviously lots of technical, complicated things that I could go in to to strengthen my point, but I’m no expert on investments or stock markets. Although, it's pretty obvious that a company whose shares were once at R1500 and are now at a dismal R75 is not doing well.
But there are other, more obvious and every day things that convinces me that Blackberry will soon be a thing of the past.
First off? BBM is no longer restricted to Blackberries. As more and more people started using Samsungs and iPhones, Blackberry took the step to make the instant messaging service BBM available to other smartphone users. So, no need to have a Blackberry to BBM anymore.
Also, I’ve never understood why you would need BBM if you have Whatsapp. Yes, with BBM you can see when someone has read your message (those ticks on Whatsapp do not mean that your message has been read by the way. Here's proof.) but sometimes this is actually more like a punishment.
Haven’t you ever had those moments of “He read my message three hours ago and still hasn’t replied? He’s obviously not into me” or received a message from someone you’re trying to avoid, only to accidentally open it. Now you’re the one that’s not replying to something you’ve obviously read. It’s just way too complicated.
Secondly, South Africans went crazy when they heard that they would only need to pay something like R59 a month for unlimited data. I’ve heard that this is no longer the case with certain contracts. Now, just like with any other smart phone, many BB users have to buy data bundles that don’t necessarily translate into unlimited time on the web.
Thirdly, there are hundreds of apps that the poor Blackberry lovers just can’t use. Instagram, Snapchat, Gmail, Pinterest, Tumblr and Youtube are just a few of the apps that BB has yet to release official versions of. Seriously, for a smartphone, this isn’t very clever.
Sure, three reasons may not be all it takes for the BB ship to sink, but I think the future of the once powerful smartphone is pretty grim. We might be saying bye bye Blackberry sooner than we think.
Are you a Blackberry fan? Or do you wish yours would just break already so that you can get a new phone?
