1. Rooster99's Avatar
    Let me preface this by saying I'm a Berry user and NOT an iPhone fan. I am, however, a business user who is sick of all the posters saying business users only care about messaging and security and slagging all non-Berry devices as "toys". Sorry, I know I'm on a soapbox but as I've said before I do not suffer fools gladly.

    So try and tell me non-RIM devices are toys when huge banks are allowing their people to use them :

    " ... British bank Standard Chartered said earlier this year it was giving its staff the option to replace the BlackBerry with the iPhone, a move that could eventually result in thousands of bankers switching. ..."
    EU ditches BlackBerry for iPhone, HTC - Telecom - News - Tech - The Times of India

    Standard Chartered is over 100 years old with over 75,000 staff, and has a network of over 1,700 branches and outlets and 5,700 ATMs in more than 70 countries globally.

    With this profile they're hardly early adopters, and if you're a banker working for them you're not likely to be a teenager, overwhelmed by glitz, focused on games or fart apps or anything other than a hard core business user. And with a profile like this, their IT department is highly unlikely to bless iPhone usage without some pretty serious assessment.

    So no more "iToy" BS, ok? Pull your head out of wherever you've inserted it.

    - R.
    08-04-10 01:53 PM
  2. Striterax's Avatar
    I am in the energy trading industry. My company pays our individual cell bill and allows us to have whatever phone and carrier we want. I tried for 6 months to like the iphone and ignore all of the dropped calls and my inability to crank out messages and emails at the speed that i can do it on the blackberry. It got to where I was being fussed at by the boss for not responding to his messages afterhours. Typing on the iphone was such a pita for me that it wasnt worth spending the 30 minutes to try and type out a one paragraph email. I am now back on a blackberry and couldnt be happier. I miss the web browser and some of the other things on the iphone, but when dropped calls and a sh*tty battery that can't last long enough for push email service can cost me trades, etc (read: money), the iphone became a liability. I suspect that there are lots of employees that will go to the iphone and be happy but i would bet that many of them will switch and then like me, realize that the iphone is first and foremost a cell-network-connected itouch and a mediocre at best communications device.
    08-04-10 02:14 PM
  3. fecurtis's Avatar
    I work for a major corporation that specializes in (among other things) gov't contracting. We teamed up with Apple to start giving Federal Gov't agencies the security and infrastructure to use iPhones. Some of our employees also use them for work and we've developed specific apps that has greatly increased productivity amongst our employees. We still give the option of using either an iPhone or Blackberry though.

    In fact, yesterday as I was leaving the office someone behind me was on his iPhone as I hear him say "Dammit, I wasn't even hold the phone wrong!", I assume he dropped a call.

    I thought about making him feel a little better by pulling out my Droid X, showing that the phone was visibly dead, and telling him that at least his phone made it past 3 PM.

    As I type this my phone is about to die again and it's been off the charger since 8:15 AM this morning....it's not even 3:20 PM. I suspect it's some widget or app that's draining my battery as this has only started happening yesterday and today but I digress...stupid thing.
    Last edited by fecurtis; 08-04-10 at 02:21 PM.
    08-04-10 02:18 PM
  4. Rooster99's Avatar
    Cool.

    Every device has its limitations, and I appreciate you sharing your experiences. As someone who researched on this site, among others, before deciding on my first smartphone purchase your posts are the types that would have been very valuable. Descriptions of real life experiences - good or bad - for any device are of value.

    My protest is against those who claim business users have no needs outside of messaging, and that no devices other than Berries are suitable for business use. The Standard Charter example refutes both those points.

    - R.
    08-04-10 02:54 PM
  5. fecurtis's Avatar
    Cool.

    Every device has its limitations, and I appreciate you sharing your experiences. As someone who researched on this site, among others, before deciding on my first smartphone purchase your posts are the types that would have been very valuable. Descriptions of real life experiences - good or bad - for any device are of value.

    My protest is against those who claim business users have no needs outside of messaging, and that no devices other than Berries are suitable for business use. The Standard Charter example refutes both those points.

    - R.
    Yeah I agree with your OP, I was in the middle of typing something in my last post then just kinda went off on a tangent, apologies.

    Either way, I too never understood the "toy" argument. I think most people would prefer a phone that can do both...at least from my personal experience. Most people don't like toting around 2 different phones.

    I mean we're helping Federal Gov't agencies use the iPhone, certainly not because they want to play games on them all day. The reasoning is that it's just easier to crank out productivity apps (or I guess any app) using Apple's API's and SDK than it is for Blackberry.
    08-04-10 03:22 PM
  6. Striterax's Avatar
    I totally agree that the ideal would be a device that was good at both.

    I'm not sure that the story you cited proves anything more than a large company bowing to pressure from its employees. Its not hard to imagine the corporate brass misguidedly deciding to relent on the iphone thing to placate the rank and file in lieu of monetary compensation. Trust me, I've worked for large companies that operated that way.

    I suspect the "toy" thing comes from the fact that 90% of iphone users LOVE to flaunt the most useless apps as an argument for the iphone over the bb. Some of the banking apps that let you deposit a check using the iphone camera or others of that ilk are incredibly useful, and it doesn't take much imagination to think up apps that could make you more productive at work, but I've encountered very few people that brag about those, but they can't wait to show you the app that makes the screen a beer glass that empties if you tilt the iphone.
    08-04-10 04:23 PM
  7. abtxpress's Avatar
    I would agree. We get the itoy aspect from the brainless users saying "look at this, its so cool" and they pour out a beer. Oh wow, I must run and get me one. Bb is just plain reliable as a phone and messaging monster. I really don't care for touch screens, I like my buttons, plain and simple. I am a loyal bb user, it does what I need it to do for my business, keeps me connected, let's me do excel docs. I'm not a gamer. I don't need an iphone. It is just what the user need, but everyone I know that has had an iphone is now on bb. So to each their own.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    08-04-10 08:44 PM
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