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BlackBerry hangs on by a keyboard
Visitors try out BlackBerry smartphones at the Blackberry stand on the first day of the CeBIT 2012 technology trade fair on March 6, 2012 in Hanover, Germany.
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Google's Android and Apple's iPhone are vying for number one and two in the smart phone market. In a distant but still impressive third? Blackberry, which has 11 percent of the market.
There are 90 million BlackBerry users around the world, but who are they?
BlackBerry users tend to be older. According to Comscore most BlackBerry users in the U.S. are 35-years-old and up, and BlackBerrys are often used for work.
"You know it's happened to me several times where I've taken out my BlackBerry and somebody goes, 'oh you still use a BlackBerry, are they still around?'"
Kyle McInnes, editor-in-chief of Blackberrycool.com, says he isn't required to use a BlackBerry but he's tired of being judged for it: "Do you pull out a Gillette razor and say, 'oh you only use a Gilette? How uncool of you?'"
McInnes says a lot of BlackBerry users choose it because of the keyboard, he can type faster with it than a virtual one. "You can't beat a physical keyboard," he adds.
You hear that all the time from BlackBerry users -- their dedication to the physical keyboard is almost cultish.
Morita O'Brien, an engineering psychologist at the University of Alabama, says since the modern typewriter was invented more than 100 years ago, typing has been a motor skill. Humans have adapted the way we think to the physical feedback of the keyboard. The touch screen has disrupted that and made typing a visual skill. O'Brien notes people doing serious work are plugging real keyboards into their tablets and even smartphones.
It's not just some strange psychological disorder or cult. On my BlackBerry keyboard I can quite trivially beat the touchscreen typing world speed record. It's not even hard. I'm also certainly not the fastest BB user in my office. Honestly, stop drinking the kool-aid and just measure your typing speed on any of those devices. Compare with any BlackBerry user, you'll be ashamed.
I've had three BBs. They win the ironman competition for longevity because all three still work, no cracks, although the oldest has some broken peripheral plastic. Compared to my friends with spider web cracks in their iPhone screens that's pretty good.
But my latest, a Torch, is a little harder to type on because the keys are eensy weensy. Still, I've dropped it and throw it...accidentally...and it keeps on ticking like the energizer bunny timex it is.
Yes, I'm over 35, I like a real keyboard, and I use my Elderberry mostly for work, but there are other reasons I keep it: 1) I refuse to fall for Apple's proprietary b.s. and pay a gazillion dollars for a phone. 2) The 'Berry has worked flawlessly for five years. 3) My phone has never been hacked. 4) I'm not constantly breaking the glass like my Apple-obsessed buddies. When iPhones first came out, the only way to get one was with AT&T service and I will use two juice cans and a piece of string before I deal with AT&T again. So I didn't bite then, and I see no need to now.
