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Question of the Day: What is the ultimate French toast topping?
BlackBerry versus Android versus Apple
"A Blackberry replaces your laptop."
That's all.
You're not reading properly.. it 'replaces' it because you no longer need to whip it out to reply to that lengthy email.
The harder people try to convince other people that BlackBerry is crap/dead/inferior/whatever the more people buy into it in SA. And please don't come with the "SA is behind the rest of the world" argument because we're not behind as far as user experience and skills go. We are actually pretty smart as we have to get maximum value and use in a boxed-in mobile data environment. Uptake of cell tech in this country is huge. I can see why so many prefer BlackBerry, and it is not because they are stupid and BB is cheap ... it is because the average user is smart.
Lol, delusional.
Elimentals
Honorary Master
That goes for all smartphones. Like mentioned before, I use touchpal(Swype based) as well and have no problem whatsoever to type out proper word essays instead of h4x0r speak. In fact with multitasking I can type out that email, while I have an ssh connection to my work server and talking to someone back at the office via vlingo/skype. <--- not exactly something I can do with a BB.
As I mentioned before the same goes the other way around.
There is just no simple this or that phone is best for everyone, never was and never will be.
Why?
FWIW, I can see four real reasons why BB is so popular in this country:
1. Network effects, related to the widespread use of BBM.
2. Some combination of brand awareness, status signalling, peer pressure and consumer conservatism. What percentage of South African consumers even know what Android is, compared to how many know about Blackberry? How many bother to even try out the competing products before upgrading to a new BB? I think if we were to actually do this survey, it would decisively torpedo your "SA consumers are well-informed and smart" theory.
3. The cellular networks disincentivise most people from buying other platforms through their pricing and the way contracts are structured. They allow BB users to pay a flat rate that gets them internet access and instant messaging. For other platforms, the networks (with the exception of RBM on Cell C) don't offer "all in one" smartphone packages like you get in the US or Europe, and they also don't sell 3G data at the same rates they sell it to PC customers. Instead you have to buy a contract, buy data bundles yourself, understand the difference between in-bundle and OOB rates, etc., which has the effect of locking out non-tech savvy customers.
4. Most South African consumers are very poorly informed when it comes to technology. Most of have never even used a real smartphone, and no knowledge of the capabilities of Android or iOS, have never downloaded an app, etc. If you go out and talk to a random sample of South Africans (not your geek friends; they do not constitute a representative sample), you'll quickly find this to be true. This idea that most SA consumers are smart and informed is just completely and blatantly false.
cerebus
Honorary Master
SA is primarily behind the (first) world in terms of pricing. Relative to income, cellphone and data contracts here are hellishly expensive. That's why the BB value proposition is so compelling. In Europe/US, BlackBerry phones are overpriced next to their competition; here when you factor in BIS and BBM they are positively bargains. Unlimited messaging and unlimited data for r60/month. SA users are very smart, because next to a shiny all-singing wonder iOS or Android smartphone the BB offers one killer feature that nobody else does. BB third world success.
It still doesn't mean that RIM as a company isn't in serious financial troubles, that their stock prices aren't plummeting drastically, that their leadership has no clear direction, that their products aren't stagnant in terms of competitiveness and innovation, that their latest make-or-break OS version wasn't critically ignored... You just can't ignore those factors.
It still doesn't mean that RIM as a company isn't in serious financial troubles, that their stock prices aren't plummeting drastically, that their leadership has no clear direction, that their products aren't stagnant in terms of competitiveness and innovation, that their latest make-or-break OS version wasn't critically ignored... You just can't ignore those factors.
RIM is in BIG trouble for sure. In the markets that matter most to them they've been hacked to pieces. Those markets have got better data plans that make an iPhone or Android device a better proposition. Will RIM ever recover as a whole ... I doubt it. I was hoping MS would buy them to better entrench themselves in the enterprise market, but the Nokia deal made that problematic. There's been more interest from the Far East, but that won't be allowed I think.
SeRpEnT
Executive Member
So according to the figures in the original article the growth rates in SA (Vodacom) over the last year calculates as follows:
BB: 130%
IPhone: 67%
Android: 350%
Now if these rates can be sustained and kept the same for the next few years (which offcource they wont) it would take Android handsets 3 years to overtake BB in SA (Vodacom). Such a hypothesis offcourse is impossible since we only have a market of a certain size and new purchases will replace old handsets. It also doesnt take into account new competition in the future from Windows phone. Once the windows 8 launches I think we might find quite a few Windows phones out there.
BB: 130%
IPhone: 67%
Android: 350%
Now if these rates can be sustained and kept the same for the next few years (which offcource they wont) it would take Android handsets 3 years to overtake BB in SA (Vodacom). Such a hypothesis offcourse is impossible since we only have a market of a certain size and new purchases will replace old handsets. It also doesnt take into account new competition in the future from Windows phone. Once the windows 8 launches I think we might find quite a few Windows phones out there.
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KOPITE
Executive Member
The real competition is between Android and BB only. The others cannot compare currently. Iphone has its own niche market and for the middle to upper class. So you cannot compare them with Android and BB. Android is growing faster then BB, but BB will always be on top because of what the masses can afford, so you cannot compare affordability to Android's power/innovations and potential growth.