Blackberry shortages hit students hard!

If you missed the news this week Blackberry users experienced a complete blackout from their online services and the ever popular Blackberry Messenger, and it is fair to say students were hit hard.

In a recent poll on The Student Room, it was seen that most Blackberry users have more than 70 contacts through Blackberry Messenger (BBM), and so when this service goes down, it is obviously a massive problem for many users. BBM has exploded and The Student Room user, Joe64, explains how this is seen in his Sixth Form.

“In my year it seems like every other person has a blackberry, and PINS travel fast through broadcasts on BBM and through social media. You can guarantee that you’ll get at least one invitation/broadcast/status with a PIN to add every day”

In a recent Insight article, we found that Blackberry dominated the market when it came to under 25′s phone usage, and so this outage will obviously be hitting students the hardest, and the BBM service was one of theses pulling factors.

“Adelynne Chao, research specialist at GfK says that the 12-16 year old market that may have been drawn in by the instant messaging services available on Blackberry devices could be lured away by the wealth of free applications available from Android that could replace BBM, one of Blackberry’s USPs.”

There is so much prestige when it comes to phones though in the student population, and which phone is best. The Blackberry used to be an image of business, but no more, it has become associated with the teen girl on Blackberry messenger – this is odd considering Blackberry’s were never intended for this market, and do not offer the best functionality for this demographic, as TheStudentRoom user, blueray, points out.

“Blackberrys are a top choice for business people who are actually on the business server. Not the normal internet server”

So what about other mobile brands? The Student Room has been discussing the prestige that comes with a phone in a very emotive thread entitled, If you’re rich you buy an iPhone, if you’re poor you buy an Android. This just goes to show the image that can be obtained from the phone you carry. Blackberry may have experienced a huge PR nightmare, during the same week that the iPhone 4S was launched – but they are still increasingly popular with students’ as a cheap alternative to an iPhone – only time will tell what effect these outages have on their sales.

See also

• Battle of the smartphones – HTC vs. Blackberry
• Top Ten Student Brands – What makes them ‘Like’ you?
• If there was only one student brand
• Students take the time to find the best mobiles at the lowest price