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Blackberry SA - Good News, Warnings.. My Story
Greetings fellow CrackBerrians!
I have had a strong urge to speak up for almost a year now, this post was the original purpose of me joining Crackberry.
Here it goes:
I bought my first blackberry, a Curve 8520 when it was released here during 2009. At the time, Blackberry was an unknown brand and I had MANY admirers wanting to know more. I mastered the OS and learned many skills concerning maintenance/repair/advice and was so on. It felt fantastic to have my very first "smartphone" as a teenager.
It literary took a WHOLE year until Blackberry phones were popping up EVERYWHERE. This was as a result of BIS. South Africans usually paid around 25$-35$ / GB of data at the time, so this meant Blackberry was instantly backed up by the majority of teenagers. Its humorous to note that people here still deem Blackberry a brand for the youth.
By 2011 problems started to occur, people were having issues concerning stability, BIS had 2 global blackouts, devices - particularly the Curve series were having all manners of issues (mostly because of being outdated). This damaged the brand name immensely, carriers were beginning to throttle BIS speeds and consequently, the inpatient started abandoning the brand.
Some phone models (9330) had some of the highest return rates seen by carriers causing the same issue the USA is faced now - Carriers put people off from buying the brand, Outrageous! Despite all this growth was only stunted. Then, BB10 was released and users were predicting doom etc. blah blah.. sigh
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Blackberry users have for the first time since being launched in SA started to decline. Lack of BIS, carrier support and advertising are the main culprits, but those still in love with the brand remain hardcore lovers, defending from all manner of oogle's and ifaps.
Blackberry still maintains about 45% of the countries mobile users (about 67% of all smartphones +-)
The Z3 needs to be released ASAP.
Most early adopters of BB10 abandoned it , software updates were not being released soon enough by carriers (if at all).
The Q5 and Z30 have been the saviours in this case, the latter has received much praise by all who own it and spread the word :D
Most (current) BB10 users are now experts on the OS and gladly show off which feels great.
In Conclusion:
I want to give thanks to all the advice, reviews, leaks and words of encouragement from the members of the CB team, although this post is a crude sample of my thoughts and knowledge, the intent remains a positive one. Africa is our future.