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It's hard not to take these "hipness reports" with a gigantic rock of salt. Anyone that's lurked a tech forum for the last few years has heard stories of Black
by saturdaysaint 15y ago
It's hard not to take these "hipness reports" with a gigantic rock of salt. Anyone that's lurked a tech forum for the last few years has heard stories of Blackberry surging in popularity among London teens and Nokia pride prevailing over iPhone hype among Europeans. Needless to say, Europe hasn't exactly proven to be a style bellwether. The vastly simpler and more likely explanation for the difference is that Apple products are far more expensive in Europe (and, to a degree that varies by country, that people in many European countries have less disposable income than the average American).
- AndrewDucker 15y agoWhat's interesting is that Blackberry _has_ surged recently: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/31/android-uk-smartphone-growth http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/31/android-uk-...
- tintin 15y agoBlackberry is very popular because they offer a free IM service. And teens say they can type much faster on a keyboard than on a touchscreen. Those are the motivations of the teens here. After there big service-down-time a lot of people switched to Android, but I'm still seeing a lot of BB here. And you are also wrong about the price. The iPhone is not more expensive than other phones. Besides, most people don't buy a phone here, they take a contract with a provider. So it's a little less salty.