[brain615]

Mike Allen, Chief White House Correspondent for Politico, in his daily morning briefing, had the following to say on SXSW and Blackberries:

"Good morning from Austin, where it�s opening day of the 25th edition of South by Southwest (SXSW), the week-long film, music and interactive festival credited with popularizing Twitter. Hanging last night with the hip kids at the Magnolia Caf� on South Congress Street (we ordered the �hummadilla,� �followed by crawfish etouffe), nothing was more embarrassing than a BlackBerry � worse than taking a lunchbox to school when all the other kids have switched to bags. Here, you gotta have a Droid, or maybe an iPhone. Prediction: As video gets more integral to news, campaigns and political mobilization, Washington will experience a tipping point away from the �Berry."

Full text available at politico.com/playbook/0311/playbook1354.html (apparently can't make it hot since I don't have 10 posts...)

Can't speak to SXSW, but on the Blackberries in DC, I agree the potential is there for other handsets to build market share, but I'm not convinced that it is an inevitability; we'll have to see what RIM does in the months/years to come

Open for discussion

[konaman01]

all things are possible, however, given the current climate for security the open source coding of android and the proprietary (controlling) nature of apple may limit their use in a government roll. Probably not going to happen in the near future. At least not in critical areas (military, security, law enforcement, etc.)

[BBMINI]

Welcome to Crackberry.

Regarding his odd comment about the cool kids using non-BB devices:

1. He sounds like he might have some serious insecurity issues going on. My guess is that maybe he was in fact forced to take a lunch box to school for waaay too long after the cool kids had switched to bags, and it's had a significant impact ever since.

2. A thread like the following would argue that BB "coolness" among age groups might vary quite a bit geographically: http://forums.crackberry.com/f2/blac...larity-592427/

Have a fun wkd.

[T�nis]

But if you think about it, switching from a lunch box to a bag is kinda stupid ...

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[BBMINI]

But if you think about it, switching from a lunch box to a bag is kinda stupid ...

Well said. LMAO.

Similarly on a lot of levels, the "lunch box theory" might also apply to switching away from a BB to all the other "cool" new devices, eh??

[T�nis]

That's right!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[T�nis]

Me? By 10th grade, I was buying and dogging down double lunches in the school caf. But before that, I had a S.W.A.T. lunch box!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[TgeekB]

I guess if your cell is a status symbol then this would matter to you. Mine is just a communication device.

[luqman24]

Where I live, most (85%) teenagers and young adults (age 18-23) that I see have blackberries and most teenagers are rockin' the Curve. Mostly because of BBM. If I were to answer that guy's statement reguarding the Blackberry popularity in the teenage world, I'd ask him to send out a small questionaire to each high school asking what smartphone that kid has, and maybe just that question. I garuntee you that the results will make him take those words back.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Heavy Fluid]

When Android and the almighty iPhone can handle communication like my BB does, and when they have a customizable LED (BerryBuzz), then I might consider switching. Until then....BB4LIFE!!

[Midnight Barbecue]

That one ruled. I had a Captain America!!!!

Gentle Ben here.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Jake Storm]

Gentle Ben here.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

KISS graced the cover of my lunchbox

[BoldtotheMax]

I beat up kids for lunch money....wat!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[K Bear]

When Android and the almighty iPhone can handle communication like my BB does, and when they have a customizable LED (BerryBuzz), then I might consider switching. Until then....BB4LIFE!!

Funny now pretty much all platforms can handle communications as good, if not better than Blackberry. Customized LED is not a really big deal. If your e-mail filters are set properly, then you know every time the LED flashes on your device, there is an important notification for you be it e-mail, sms, or voice mail. Have one color for this, another color for that would drive me crazy. If it's that important, then don't have your device on mute and assign proper ringtones for each level of notification.

[Xopher]

As long as the government continues to use BES for security, other devices won't make it onto the hill. I don't know if they use MDS or MVS, but I wouldn't doubt it.

Plus, many of these require devices without built-in cameras. I doubt that Apple would make a camera-less version just for government use (although if the entire government switched...). There might be Android devices without cameras, but I don't see such an open system replacing BlackBerry security.