Blackberry's Teen Bastion

[poofyhairguy]

I was reading an article the other day when I came across this:

Although Apple's iPhone was a favorite device for 32% of adults, among teens its popularity was dwarfed by the Blackberry, which 37% of young people identified as their preferred brand.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14397101

I have to ask the forum:

Why are Blackberries most popular with teens, a tech savvy market, considering they are the least tech savvy phones?

Reasons I came up with:

1. Teens don't actually like Blackberries more than iPhones, parents are just more willing to give teens cheaper Blackberries over expensive iPhones so they learn to like what they have.

2. Teens love to text and the Blackberry dedicated keys make that easy.

3. Teens listed social networking, listening to music, and gaming as more important than Internet Surfing (the most popular smartphone activity for adults and the place where iOS kills a BB). Given that, maybe a 2007-esc Blackberry meets all their most important needs?

 

[shortylickens]

Easy to use, especially the keypad.
With the rise of other smartphones Blackberries are considerably cheaper than they used to be. Often free with a two year plan.
BB does have Twitter and Facebook apps now.

 

[bonkers325]

teens only care about social applications on their phones. so.. that means texting. nothing texts better than a BB

 

[Oyeve]

Its not that its popular with teens so much as its the parents giving their teens their older BBs when they get a new one. At least that is what I have seen.

 

[YoungGun21]

Because the majority of teens aren't actually tech savvy and don't know just how bad Blackberry phones are these days. They just know that everybody used to always want one, so now they get them.

 

[darkewaffle]

It's real, real easy to get BB curves for free. And when it comes down to it, people like cheap crap a lot better than pricey quality.

 

[DivideBYZero]

BBM.. /thread

 

[Imp]

It's a "grown up" device, and we all know what kids hate being treated like.

BBM, they like to chat, it lets them text/chat.

Everyone has an iPhone, so it's cool to be special. Cliquey.

Apple is a "toy" while Blackberry is used by mom & dad, but kids use mom and dad's tool as a toy, hence shitting on mom and dad.

Lot of possibilities...

 

[alent1234]

cool and usefullness
iphone > android > Blackberry

durability and toughness
blackberry > HTC > iphone

my BB Curve can be thrown on a concrete sidewalk and it will get a scratch. my HTC phone can take almost as much damage. iphone is cool and iOS is the best but if you drop it on something hard the glass will crack easily

 

[xSauronx]

BBM.. /thread

gtalk still lags behind. i wish google would stop half assing things...but you couldnt get me to trade my android phone in for the bb again

 

[ElFenix]

BBM.. /thread

this is true. still the best implementation.

 

[Bateluer]

Wish I could get more people to stop texting and using an IM client, gtalk works well if people would use it.

 

[Alone]

BBM is likely the only reason BlackBerries stayed current among the younger crowd.

 

[Bryf50]

The reason is most definitely BBM. I've had plenty of people tell me that they'd switch to Android or Iphone if it had BBM.

 

[Demo24]

Can someone explain to me what BBM is exactly?

 

[gsaldivar]

Can someone explain to me what BBM is exactly?

It's the proprietary Blackberry instant messaging platform. Basically, BBM the only reason a teen would think of buying an outdated Blackberry phone these days...

 

[Demo24]

I know it's messaging, but how does it differ from texting or another instant messaging client? 99% of the people I see on smartphones use texting anyway.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Isn't it free? no text message charges?

Plus BB phones are free on contract, and inexpensive on a pay as you go plan in the UK.

http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/all

http://threestore.three.co.uk/payg/dealsummary.aspx?offercode=DSL15PP266

Android is really shaking up the UK market right now, don't expect those stats to stay the same...

 

[Firsttime]

Here in Atlantic Canada there aren't a lot of iphones with the kids, and my sister says she knows no one with an Android, but all my little sister's friends have Blackberries. It's all about the BBM. The one thing RIM still has going for them in the consumer market.

 

[Alone]

Here in Atlantic Canada there aren't a lot of iphones with the kids, and my sister says she knows no one with an Android, but all my little sister's friends have Blackberries. It's all about the BBM. The one thing RIM still has going for them in the consumer market.

But no one cares about Atlantic Canada.

 

[thedosbox]

But no one cares about Atlantic Canada.

The same observation applies in other areas

As an android user, I don't understand the comments about "x is a toy", or "y is outdated". Each product serves a different segment of the market. If that's not your segment, there are plenty of alternatives.

 

[ew915]

what is the big deal of BBM? i mean really with unlimited txt plans you can pretty much use any phone you want. The other reason BB is popular is because is the cheapest smartphone among the big boys, i'd rather give my boy a cheaper phone because he is going to trash it anyways, cost of replacement of a BB is way cheaper than the one of an iphone.

 

[Mopetar]

BBM.. /thread

This is the main reason. If most of your friends are using it, it helps if you have it as well. Also, considering how many texts some teens send, BBM is a cheaper option.

 

[Alone]

what is the big deal of BBM? i mean really with unlimited txt plans you can pretty much use any phone you want. The other reason BB is popular is because is the cheapest smartphone among the big boys, i'd rather give my boy a cheaper phone because he is going to trash it anyways, cost of replacement of a BB is way cheaper than the one of an iphone.

Um...my Blackberry Torch was in the neighbourhood of $600.

 

[uli2000]

what is the big deal of BBM? i mean really with unlimited txt plans you can pretty much use any phone you want. The other reason BB is popular is because is the cheapest smartphone among the big boys, i'd rather give my boy a cheaper phone because he is going to trash it anyways, cost of replacement of a BB is way cheaper than the one of an iphone.

Some of the advantages BBM has over texting is no 160 character limit, group chats, ability to send pics/vids/voice messages without needed to send a MMS (believe it or not, not all carriers even today offer MMS messaging options, especially in the developing world). Blackberries seem to be very popular in the developing world as well. I sold my old Tour on ebay to a guy in Vietnam who unlocks them and resells them.