Once I find a particular brand of a product that works well for me, I generally develop a strong loyalty to that brand. But if I discover a different brand that has something significantly better than a brand I was previously loyal to, I’m not blindly loyal and will change brands.
Let me give you an example. I got my first BlackBerry, the RIM 857 in 1997.
It was a miracle device. I could make phone calls, compose, send, and receive emails. It had an address book, a calculator, an alarm clock. I didn’t go anywhere without my beloved BlackBerry.
It didn’t take long for BlackBerry devices to earn the nickname “Crackberry” because users — predominantly business people — became addicted to them. But that was before web browsers and cameras became standard issue on smartphones.
Everything changed in 2007 when Apple introduced the iPhone. Suddenly using a smartphone to take snapshots and to browse the web became “the thing.” But I remained loyal to the BlackBerry.
And then, when BlackBerry came out with its iPhone wannabe, the touchscreen Storm, I was all over it. I was hoping it would be the iPhone-killer that BlackBerry claimed it would be.
What a mistake. The BlackBerry Storm looked cool, but it was a piece of shit. By 2010, when I bought my first iPhone, the iPhone 4, I honestly felt guilty about abandoning the brand of smartphone I’d been incredibly loyal to for more than a decade. But I wasn’t alone in abandoning BlackBerry for the iPhone, which was a far superior product. By 2012, the BlackBerry, which had been the market leader in first generation smartphones, was barely a blip on the radar.
My wife, son, and daughter are all using the Google Pixel smartphone these days. It’s an Android device and my family members keep asking me why I don’t switch to that device. But as far as I’m concerned, most Android phones are iPhone copycats and until someone can demonstrate that there’s a definitively better smartphone than the iPhone, I’m going to remain a loyal iPhone user.
This, That, and the Other 
Never owned a BB personally although I did think they were awesome throughout the 2000’s until I got my first Android in 2011 and that was the end of BB.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Love my iPhone 💙
LikeLiked by 1 person
that got me laughing…boy did the pictures bring back memories
LikeLiked by 1 person
Occasionally I consider an Android phone, but since I’m all Apple I stick with the iPhone, because it works so well with everything else.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The only other Apple products I have are my Apple Watch and my AirPods. Oh, and an old iPod.
LikeLike
Kirkland dark chocolate covered dried mangoes,
A brand of sliced dill pickles at Costco but not Kirkland,
Real sugar Coca Cola (not daily) in glass bottles from Costco,
Sadly (as I used to frequent many health food stores) Whole Foods,
Horizon cream and whole milk (packaged as Kirkland), Costco/Aldi’s
[I don’t shop at Aldi, but my mom does— and I found that the price is better there.
When my kids were little, I bought non-homogenized milk (usually goat) from local providers.]
Local, community, water and the fight against privatization and corporate ownership of the water supply of the earth.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Talenti — non-dairy — ice cream.
I eat dairy ice cream too,
but Talenti is yummy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Switching from an iPhone to android is not easy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know. Between that and not seeing any truly compelling reason to switch, I’m sticking with my iPhone.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, that is the important point; Why!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great post that elicited lots of memories. BlackBerry was a long-time professional client and my loyalty was unwavering until that fateful day on the lake when my BB took a dive out of the PFD pocket and settled in the muck of Davy Jones Locker. I have sometimes considered hiring a dive team to bring it up to the surface.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hate when that happens. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ironic, isn’t it? We were among the first cell phone users. Garry’s first phone was about the size and weight of a brick — a real brick — and when Blackberry came out, it was such a relief. Garry was an addicted Blackberry user until, as you say, their attempt to be an iPhone made them a nothing phone. It was a pity because they were in many ways, for people who actually made phone calls, a LOT easier to use with a keyboard and all. And they had very good sound, too.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, I had so hoped that BlackBerry could have brought something to market that could complete with the iPhone, but their attempts were deficient. I loved their tiny physical keyboards and would still prefer it over the iPhone’s (and literally all other smartphones these days) virtual keypad, but mismanagement and shortsightedness at BlackBerry doomed what was once the dominant device of its kind to an ignominious death.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Blackberry is even a cool name.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Garry used to lovingly refer to it as his “blueberry.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
We lost so many companies to a stubborn insistence that whatever was new wouldn’t couldn’t shouldn’t last. DEC. Remember DEC? They said laptops and desktops wouldn’t last.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I remember DEC. I wrote a post in March 2018 where I quoted DEC’s CEO Ken Olsen saying in 1977 “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.” And in that same post, I quoted Mike Lazardis, co-chief executive and co-chairman of Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, saying in 2003, “Cameraphones will be rejected by corporate users.”
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/03/28/one-liner-wednesday-oops/
LikeLike
You’d think they’d learn. It’s buggy whips all over again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What can you learn from history? Apparently the GOP believes nothing, which is why they’re so keen to ban books and remove teaching certain historical facts from classrooms.
LikeLike
And people think I’m being pessimistic. I’m not. I’m just not seeing progress or what I’d call progress in anything other than technology. I doubt technology alone is going to save us from ourselves.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Heinz Beans, no other brand tastes quite like them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve also found Heinz catchup to be significantly different from at least most others. I don’t use catsup often, however.
LikeLiked by 2 people
😆 Be careful, Fandango. You might end up with an Android versus iPhone war on your hands.
Do enjoy the rest of your day, my friend!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll stick with the iPhone unless or until Android comes up with something irresistible that the iPhone cannot do.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I never got to use a Blackberry in the end.
LikeLiked by 1 person