Suddenly it seems like everywhere I turn everyone has a phone with a QWERTY keyboard. I am curious why that is. Is it the new statuesque? Does this mean everyone is writing emails on their phone? Or are people just texting with their QWERTY handsets?
I have asked a few people and one or two of them have said it’s because _____ (fill in a provider name here) was just offering the phone for free or really cheap. I asked why not a phone with just T9 and they just responded with a plain old “why not???” Why not get a business class phone, it’s the same price as something else….. Free.
So basically I see high school and collage students walking around using Blackberries just to make/receive calls and do sms. Does this make sense? I’m not sure. A senior at the local university told me she thought it would help after she graduated when looking for her first job. By already knowing how to use a Blackberry she figured it would look good on a resume (CV for my non North American readers). Okay, I have to take a step back now and breath. Yes she really plans to put on a resume that she is proficient in using a Blackberry. Just like putting down that she knows how to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint. I guess it would go between proficiencies in Microsoft Windows and Apple OSX.
Okay back to everybody having a QWERTY device. Have you noticed an upswing since the Fall? I sure have. I mean for G-d sakes, do 6th graders really need handsets let alone a QWERTY handset? Oh well I guess I’m old fashioned.
While looking for a pic to use for this post I found a great post on Lady Geek. The author talks about preteens wanting Blackberries. I ended up using their pic because I thought it was so representative of what I’m talking about.
3 responses so far ↓
1 ARJWright // Mar 2, 2009 at 1:39 pm
While QWERTY used to mean “professional and email” it just *means* messaging now, and for many still has that status attached to it.
SMS drives purchases, anything that appears to make that easier is good for folks to grab a hold of.
2 Kevin Neely // Mar 2, 2009 at 4:33 pm
As an interesting aside, our company took away the blackberries for all but the most senior and extremely on-call personnel.
And, in reality, “being proficient” in BB just means you don’t pay attention in meetings.
3 Adonis // Mar 3, 2009 at 6:02 am
I think BB has to take some credit for finding ways to cater for the youth and attract them to BB devices – it’s just “cool” now to have a BB device. The free messaging also helps.
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