1. westla7's Avatar
    Absolutely don't want to start new flame or something.
    What I want is to figure out why Blackberry might be *better* solution for small business or young startup. I am not talking about corporations with their IT departments to handle BES. What I am looking at is a small business owner with may be personal and "company" email account; or using free Google Apps to power all "IT infrastructure". It's pretty common nowadays, as it provides nice and reliable Calendar, Contacts, Email. (free!)
    So, my question is, why Blackberry might be better choice instead of iPhone or Android phones? I want to explain it to somebody, but only things I can come up with are:
    1) Real keyboard, easier to type
    2) Better battery life
    That's probably it. All smartphones nowadays allow you to view PDFs, browse a little bit, and all do integrate with Google Apps nicely.
    Did I miss something? Anything about reliability?
    How reliable is say 9700?
    Besides, I've got another question -- do you think that Storm/Storm2 is a nice Blackberry device? It's touch - that's the root of my question -- is it really a nice RIM/Blackberry device? I didn't see a lot of people using it, most Blackberry users I know *want* and *prefer* physical keyboard.
    05-28-10 03:26 PM
  2. sedalia066's Avatar
    My preference runs to a physical keyboard and BB is the best IMHO. I do lots of business e-mail so typing easily is a must.

    BB security and push e-mail are big pluses in my world.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    05-28-10 03:46 PM
  3. _StephenBB81's Avatar
    In my opinion, pulling out a BlackBerry while in a meeting says you're a serious professional.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

    I don't know what Meetings you pull into, but having BB barely gets noticed, we all have them, across the entire industry I work in, 90% of Cellphone carrying people are BB users.

    NOW as a Small/Business Start up, you have to ask yourself what do people you will be working with use?

    BBM is useful for me and a couple of my dealers as I can fire off a quick BBM about a inventory fill requirements, and can share detail about where I am globally with many clients at once. without being intrusive.

    I DO know that the BB can accept Outlook Vcards into the address book natively, not sure if iPhone and Android OS can do that, get someone to check for ya, as I get a lot of business contacts sent to me via Vcard, and send out vCards.

    How many staff do you have? and how will you communicate? again BBM is awesome for quick check ins and details and is included in the data plan so no need for txt plans, which can save you money, if you are using it purely for business, you can probably get away with a 50MB dataplan, you could never do that on an iPhone or Android, as they don't compress data and full HTML emails which to me are a pain to read but apparently people want them are Datahogs,


    IF battery life is what is most important to you, NOTHING beats Blackberry for Life/Recharge Speed/feature set.
    Now when I say Blackberry though I do mean a keyboard based Blackberry, the touch screens eat battery life doesn't matter the company.

    what I like about BB is you can buy the extended Battery's and keep 2 on hand so for a 5 minute reboot time you can run 2-3 days not having to be near a charge which means I can keep "working" whilst boating/hunting/camping.


    I have relatively small hands, wearing a Mens Medium Motorcycle glove, and the keyboard on the Tour is awesome for me, I MISS the features of my BB keyboard when on the notebook now. so if you are a Mens Medium or small you'll have no issues with size, if you are a Large or XL you might have to look for a landscape phone.
    05-28-10 06:05 PM
  4. TheOne01's Avatar
    In my opinion, pulling out a BlackBerry while in a meeting says you're a serious professional.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    These "posers" never cease to amaze me! You don't know how many times I've seen someone with a blackberry and thought "Now there's a serious professional!
    05-28-10 06:48 PM
  5. sedalia066's Avatar
    I have relatively small hands, wearing a Mens Medium Motorcycle glove, and the keyboard on the Tour is awesome for me, I MISS the features of my BB keyboard when on the notebook now. so if you are a Mens Medium or small you'll have no issues with size, if you are a Large or XL you might have to look for a landscape phone.
    My hands need large gloves. The 9000 keyboard is one reason I have the device. The size is wonderful.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    05-28-10 07:54 PM
  6. _StephenBB81's Avatar
    My hands need large gloves. The 9000 keyboard is one reason I have the device. The size is wonderful.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

    I WISH they would build another 9000 sized phones, I love that keyboard!
    but I think Rim is has moved to all the small sleek keyboard and no more BIG Berry's
    05-28-10 08:37 PM
  7. TheOne01's Avatar
    ... Since when can we no longer post opinions in threads? I'm not a poser. I've been running a freelance business for years, and professionals I work with use BB.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    So in your ... opinion, in your freelance business that you've been running for years , you see a person with a blackberry as a "serious professional". What do you see when someone pulls out another type of device? Just curious.

    .... You carry a blackberry in hopes that someone with see you too as a "serious professional".


    ...
    05-29-10 10:26 AM
  8. Reed McLay's Avatar
    ...

    IMHO, over 20 Million of the most influential business, legislative and engineering professionals use BlackBerry becasue that is the de facto standard.

    The other 20 Million users, those that depend on reliable communications in maintaining their lively hood, are not bound by an IT departments rules, can have many of the same benefits.

    What really counts is performance. Not responding to message in a timely manner can be a serious career limiting event.
    05-29-10 10:31 AM
  9. Pi Guy 3.14's Avatar
    In my opinion, pulling out a BlackBerry while in a meeting says you're a serious professional.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    OMG Wow..... please tell us that was a joke...

    That has to be one of the dumbest comments I ever read.
    06-02-10 10:38 AM
  10. Radius's Avatar
    In my opinion, pulling out a BlackBerry while in a meeting says you're a serious professional.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    In my opinion doing this gets me in trouble with the boss for not paying attention at the meeting.
    06-02-10 10:42 AM
  11. elvin1983's Avatar
    In my opinion, pulling out a BlackBerry while in a meeting says you're a serious professional.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    I think you guys are being a little hard on the guy don't you think? Like the rest of us, he (or she) is entitled to their own opinion, and if they feel that pulling a BB out says that you're a serious professional, then they are entitled to that opinion, and shouldn't be jumped on because of it. Let's all get along and show a little respect shall we?

    I will say this, when I see a guy in a nice suit and tie, carrying a brief case and talking on a flip phone, it does look kinda funny to me, I'm just saying...
    06-02-10 11:09 AM
  12. Pi Guy 3.14's Avatar
    I saw a 15 year old kid with a blackberry today, so IMO he must be some type serious businessman.

    Yay, opinions are fun!
    06-02-10 11:11 AM
  13. audit's Avatar
    I'm a professional and attend meetings regularly with major CEO's and CTO's, They've asked about my iPhone all the time. My 11yr old daughter has a BB, does that make her a "professional"? It was the only spare phone I had laying around that wasn't used for target practice when her regular flip phone broke. My wife hates her BB and can't wait until her replacement iPhone comes in.

    At the company I work for, I'm the head of the IT department and we have a mixture of iPhones and BB's. More and more people are moving over to the iPhones here and no complaints from the Exec's that have them either. Mine is on the charger at night only unless I'm doing a long conference call on the way into work or home. At work I rarely charge it and that's after a 10-12hr workday.

    It all depends on what you want to do and how much you want to spend.
    06-02-10 11:31 AM
  14. FuzzyB's Avatar
    I will say this, when I see a guy in a nice suit and tie, carrying a brief case and talking on a flip phone, it does look kinda funny to me, I'm just saying...
    I gotta agree...remember the day this actually used to look professional? Times they are a changin...
    06-02-10 01:01 PM
  15. Xopher's Avatar
    I think the best thing to do is look at what you need your smart phone to do as part of your business. Do you mostly need web access? e-mail? instant messaging? Will you be taking inventory, invoicing, charging credit cards? Will you be updating websites, blogs, or other online portals? Does carrier matter? Which carriers have the best service in your area? Will you be using it for lots of phone calls? Are your office computers PC or Mac? Do you need to do a lot of multi-tasking on your smart phone? Do you need to access multiple e-mail addresses?

    A lot of people in my profession went the way of the iPhone. Mainly due to the fact that we tend to show off photographs and such, and the iPhone's screen does very well as a mini presentation system. But, a couple of my local colleagues got rid of their iPhones since AT&T doesn't have the best service in our area (one couldn't even receive calls in his office unless he went out to the parking lot).

    Best thing to do is look at what you want your smart phone to do, then decide which device can cover those options the best.
    06-02-10 04:47 PM
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