Heavy media coverage of the outages at RIM may be skewing public opinion and making RIM look worse off than it is. It’s a sad situation for RIM, arguably one of the most innovative and game changing companies in Canada. However, it’s tough to argue that the events that happened don’t look bad, whichever side of the Apple vs. Blackberry debate you may be on.
I decided to conduct a LinkedIn poll to see where people fell on the Blackberry vs. iPhone debate. The results were quite surprising.
My poll results showed a much bigger gap between Blackberry and iPhone than I had been expecting. I thought the two competitors would be neck and neck. However, the results showed:
- Younger people using Blackberry – Probably because of BBM and the new music app
- No +45 year olds using Blackberry – Perhaps a tougher phone to get the hang of
- +45 year olds using iPhone – Perhaps easier phone to use
While these are the preliminary results (there are still 12 days left in the poll), I’m optimistic.
Others were not so optimistic:
But RIM has some diehard fans like our own Michelle De Rubeis:
I found it interesting that Android has such a big cut of the poll results. In my experience, Android is attractive to technical people for a few reasons:
- Android is an open source OS making it customizable and less rigid than the competition
- It offers many free apps
- Android provides an arguably ‘better browsing experience’ that let’s you choose a fast browser like Opera Mini
- With Apple and BB we are forced to use the hardware provided, but Android is an open platform so manufacturers (such as Motorola and LG) have the freedom to put it on any hardware they choose onto the phones
Your comments on the +45 set not using RIM and using iPhone due to the more difficult RIM and easier to use iPhone is a bit skewed and insulting. Perhaps the plus 45 year old’s are a bit more into the Apps than the younger groups — more into the music and more into the great design… I am over 45 (you guessed right 🙂 and I have switched from the BB to the Samsung Android and I love it for many reasons — BB is not a difficult phone to use – RIM has fallen behind a bit on the R&D as shown by the release dates on the product road map… I do wish RIM well though but they have to pull up their marketing pants and get back on track to compete with the new devices coming from Apple and Google (and Samsung).
Hi Ian,
I just ran this past the +45 year olds that are hanging around the office this morning and they agree with you. I was wrong to say that +45 year olds want an easier-to-use smartphone. I’m sorry if my comment insulted you as that was not my intention. You have a point about the RIM and the marketing. But I do think they’ve done a pretty good job of reaching out the the younger market because I know lots of teenagers who are using BBs for the BBM.
As a diehard Blackberry fan, I’m routing for the win. We had a blip in service, so we need a few extra days to download our free apps, get over our anguish and put in our vote. 🙂
I’ve got an Android phone right now but I have to say that I really want RIM to make a comeback!