[VanMtl]

down where i live everyone has a blackberry, some people iphones and no one has android lol, your almost looked down upon if you dont have a bberry

[pmccartney]

The reason for that is, RIM still puts out older models like the 3G Curve which you can pick up for under $100 with no contract and get a monthly plan with BBM, Facebook and Twitter for about $30 a month. It what my kids have and same with their friends. With iToy you're looking at $150 with a 3 year contract and $60 a month because you have to take a dataplan. There are not may parents out there willing to pop for a 3 year contract for their kids phone.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I was about to type a similar comment.

My 3 kids now all have a BlackBerry. 2 have the Curve 9300 and 1 has the newer Curve 9360 and they are all on Rogers PAYG plans. We spend $90/mo +tax and they have everything they want. A lot or their friends have them too.

Another big reason my kids choose BB is for the same reason as many of us 'grown-ups'. A physical keyboard. They have had iTouch for a few years and always used them, for texting, via WiFi. When I gave them the choice (going mobile) between a gently used BB or other touch screen phone they said they can type twice as fast on a physical keyboard...and boy, can they ever type fast. I've had a BB for 8 years and they type circles around me.

[NickA]

people here in the US are very gullible when it comes to advertising, everywhere you look you see a billboard or magazine advertisement showing off the latest so called bleeding edge technology from Android & people rush to buy them, we are in the middle of a smart phone craze here. I dont know how it is in the rest of the world but here its nuts. Dont see many Blackberry ads

This is so true, and I'm a sucker for it every time. Slap a "new" label on something and I'll buy it. The Droid Raze is a good example. It came out today and I feel like I just gotta have it.

Canadians should be loyal to their phones as they are loyal with their coffee. Tim Horton's and Blackberry; Stay away from Starbucks and iToys!!!!

You don't have to be Canadian to prefer Tim Hortans coffee over StarBucks. I live in the US and love Tim's coffee.

[aha]

How about Europe? I heard BBs are pretty hot in Europe, no?

[Kevstra]

These numbers don't suprise me either. Everyone in my family has a 'Berry.

I somewhat agree with the argument that the entry level price point of the Curves makes BB more accessable to younger people, but then why doesn't this hold true in the States?

[Thunderbuck]

This is cool to see, and not such a huge surprise, I suppose.

I'm still a big fan of BB, and I want to see them pull through their current issues. And while I'm Canadian, and I want to support a Canadian firm, I'm only going to place so much emphasis on patriotism. If their products were deteriorating, and there was no clear plan to address that deterioration, I would be seriously reconsidering.

I had a nice experience the other night, though, that reaffirmed my faith in BB and RIM. I don't have my own business per se, but as an enthusiast I've run my own Small Business Server 2008 for a while, and I put BESx on it when it was released.

Last week I had to wipe my phone. I'd installed a couple of apps on my Torch and it started a looping reboot. After the wipe/OS reinstall, I went into by BESx, assigned a new activation password, and did my Enterprise Activation on my newly-refreshed phone, and got back EVERYTHING. Absolutely EVERYTHING (at least up to the point where my phone had last been in touch with the server). Even my home Wi-Fi with the impossible-to-remember random 64char network key.

It was an extremely satisfying experience, and even moreso when I considered that I was maintaining that data myself, that I wasn't entrusting it to, say, iCloud or Google.

SMBs need to consider this seriously; how much responsibility do you really want to hand over to the cloud? Because if you want to keep your own stuff, and you want this kind of security and flexibility, RIM is the only game in town.

[Fascade518]

Never giving up on my Blackberry products as long as they never give up on me! This article really has renewed my faith in being a proud owner as well as a continuing believer in RIM. Thanks so much for posting this!

[wendybeee]

This is true where I live also outside of Toronto and I work in Toronto. Actually the only prominent smartphones that you see people with are bb's and iphones. Everything else is just a cell phone and when I mention android most people say 'what's that' lol ! I can't see me giving up on bb !

[adamkesher]

The reason for that is, RIM still puts out older models like the 3G Curve which you can pick up for under $100 with no contract and get a monthly plan with BBM, Facebook and Twitter for about $30 a month. It what my kids have and same with their friends. With iToy you're looking at $150 with a 3 year contract and $60 a month because you have to take a dataplan. There are not may parents out there willing to pop for a 3 year contract for their kids phone.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I thought Blackberries were the phone for highly skilled professionals and all that? I mean you rarely see someone extolling a Blackberry without also taking a dig at "iToys" and such. I guess they're also phones for kids to play with, Facebook and text each other with all day.

Different plans for us folks in the states. I went into a Verizon store on a lark once and asked about the Bold 9900...was informed in addition to the 260 USD price of the phone my two year contract would be well over $100 a month. My iPhone 4S bill is about $70 a month with my discount, thats unlimited data(almost at 6GB now with a week left in the month).

[Foppa_21]

The reason for that is, RIM still puts out older models like the 3G Curve which you can pick up for under $100 with no contract and get a monthly plan with BBM, Facebook and Twitter for about $30 a month. It what my kids have and same with their friends.

What a great idea. Almost makes me wish my kids (10 & 8) were old enough to need one.

[kevinnugent]

I live in a small Saskatchewan town. The local SaskTel Mobility dealer tells me that just about all the young kids are buying Blackberrys. Kinda surprised me I guess. I assumed all the kids would be going with iPhone or Android. Not so. They all want BBs.

They want BBM.