iPhone versus BlackBerry in SA

BB days are numbered.

In response to system32.

(and this is all as a prepaid user - don't do contracts)

I don't think so though - nationally, it's just taken off and as Goldstuck mentions, brand loyalty, along with BB functionality is going to make sure the brand is entrenched into people's minds. Not to mention the R59 price tag on unlimited browsing.

When I got my Bold9000, within a week, two other staff members got Curve 8520's and nearly everyone at my place of work now has a BB.

Granted that Android is the next stepping stone in mobile evolution, I feel that BB will still have a place - if not for cheaper handsets, then for what they're already achieved and will in the next 12 months or more.

Android is great - and I've yet to still play around with it, but the handsets are still pricey - even on contract.
 
The American trend where iPhone and Android are replacing BB will apply to SA and the rest of the world in 12-18 months - In the UK this trend has already started.
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Agreed.
 
moosag said:
Agreed.
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Also Agreed. Linux/Android are going to tear into BB market so quickly over the next 24 months worldwide. Apple and Iphone are not trying to take over the market. If Apple get 5% of the entire smartphone market worldwide, they will be ecstatic and they will most likely be making more money than all the other on that 5% :) Remember Apple have a very limit product range so don't compete directly will all markets in smartphones.
 
From the quantities that my stores order of the BB 8520, this phone is making a absolute killing....and from all the friends and family of mine that have switched over to BB, they all say they will never go back to Nokia etc. Personally, my next phone will definately be a Blackberry again. My 8310 is the first phone where I did not get gatvol of it within the first few months. I am as much in love with it today as I was on day 1.

Blackberry is not just nice with unlimited emails, satnav, bbm, msn, facebook etc etc, but the physical unit is also really nice. LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!

I have played with the Iphone a couple of times...and all I can say is BLEH! hehe
 
moosag said:
Agreed.
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freematrix said:
Also Agreed. Linux/Android are going to tear into BB market so quickly over the next 24 months worldwide. Apple and Iphone are not trying to take over the market. If Apple get 5% of the entire smartphone market worldwide, they will be ecstatic and they will most likely be making more money than all the other on that 5% :) Remember Apple have a very limit product range so don't compete directly will all markets in smartphones.
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I'd be suprised if that happened in SA.
I think BB will still be taking a lead over even Android locally.

The major players in Android locally is the HTC range followed by the X-series from SE.
Those are very expensive phones.

When one considers how cheap a 8520 is compared to the the Android handsets - the BB will outsell Android locally.
Those numbers or trend(s) that you all are discussing could be applicable to the smartphone user whom readily depends on his phone for business perhaps, but it won't be much of a shift.
moosag - you made mention of how your place of work bitched about getting your iPhone onto your corporate server - those businesses which have BES, are not likely to make a change to anything else in the next year and a half or so. Not in SA anyway I think (then again it's only me thinking)

For Android to make a strong foothold nationally is going to take a while.

Needs:
Cheaper handsets/contracts
Data to be much cheaper (as Android apps updates all of the time)

That's a start.
 
freematrix said:
Also Agreed. Linux/Android are going to tear into BB market so quickly over the next 24 months worldwide.
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True that, Nokia is going Linux on their smartphones and leaving Symbian to move into the previous Series40 domain. Now Nokia are the world leaders and if they go towards Linux while we have Android making a killing I can see Linux having a massive future on mobile.
 
I felt compelled to reply to some of the ignorant posts on this forum. There are way more than 100 000 iphones SA, not everyone gets theirs from vodacom. There were tons brought in on the "grey market", one guy i knew brought in around 500 himself and sold them for cheaper than vodascum anyway. There are also people getting it from overseas (through relatives etc) obviously.

And for the love of f u c k an Iphone 3GS does not cost 99 dollars in the states i hate it when people make such uninformed remarks. Its 99 dollars on a CONTRACT, so yes just like here you still paying in (the 99 dollars) for the phone plus paying the contractual fees each month (which are not much cheaper than here by the way). I know this as i have family in the states and also thought we were getting screwed over big time! I also thought the americans only pay R900 for a phone and we pay like 6 grand but its not like that at all. You can get an Iphone on contract here for around R600 a month anyway so it workd out more or less the same. If you just buy the phone in the states without a contract it still damn expensive.

Don't let steve jobs fool you with his 99 dollar crap, they cannot even manufacture them for that price !
 
I think people are missing one key aspects about the bb vs iphone:

BBM. Blackberry messenger just works, and it works well. Firstly, it has become extremely popular. Secondly, it does groups. Something that the likes of msn/google talk can not do.

So all in all, breaking point for me is the BBM
 
You get a BBM App for iPhone. I'm sure the blackberry does it better though, since it's native.
 
A black berry is not about the phone - its about the service. Its like having a bus or minibus taxi so that you can drive in the bus lane.
 
Rouxenator said:
A black berry is not about the phone - its about the service. Its like having a bus or minibus taxi so that you can drive in the bus lane.
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True....but even so....their phones are good looking, and very good quality. Apart from the older trackballs that popped out a bit too frequently (repaired under warranty of course) lol
 
Uhm, no. Their phones are more boring than an e-series and their multimedia abilities does not come close to an n-series or cybershot.
 
I wonder how many BB fans here have ever used an iPhone? Who are the fanbois now?
 
hammell said:
I wonder how many BB fans here have ever used an iPhone? Who are the fanbois now?
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Me and the one guy in the office is always teasing each other. He tells me his Iphone is the best. I tell him he is full of shaite!. He tells me his phone in for yet another repair! I point and laugh. He asks me when we are getting the new Iphone 4, I tell him to p i s s off! lol......all good fun
 
Sorry for dropping in on the conversation like this, but it seems that world wide Android has surpassed IOS this Q2, with a 886% increase in shipments.
source
 
hammell said:
I wonder how many BB fans here have ever used an iPhone? Who are the fanbois now?
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Used an iPhone 3G for about 15 minutes and threw it to the curb.
Did nothing for me honestly.

When I got my Bold, my brother freaked out, sold his iPhone and got himself a BB.
And he was an Apple fanboi of note! :erm:
 
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