According the youth of South Africa, BlackBerry is the country’s top smartphone brand, as it was named the ‘Coolest Brand Overall’ in the Sunday Times Generation Next 2011 Brand Survey Awards. Along with that, BlackBerry won in the ‘Coolest Cellphone’, ‘Coolest High-Tech Gadget’ categories and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) was crowned ‘Best Cellphone Application’.The marketers of the urban youth market research believe that BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is one of the primary reasons for BlackBerry winning the ‘Coolest Brand Overall’ in the prestigious awards. RIM’s regional director spoke on the award and on target, stated that BlackBerry smartphones are a social tool and a lifestyle device that keeps them in touch with everything that matters to them
Says Craige Fleischer, Regional Director Southern Africa at Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry® solution: “Generation Y’s choice of BlackBerry for the coolest brand overall reflects the importance the smartphone has assumed in the increasingly connected lives of a tech-savvy generation. The BlackBerry smartphone is a social tool and a lifestyle device that keeps them in touch with everything that matters to them.”
let me add, for all those claiming BlackBerry is doomed, you need read this article again and then think to yourself, how many other countries think like this? In my country, we tend to take things for granted because we’re constitutionally protected, whereas other countries are not. Communication is key in countries like SA and in the Middle East where communication is censored. One must also take into consideration that the GDP in South Africa and many others isn’t as high as the GDP of North America so there is less to spend per capita. When you have a brand in RIM who overseas is offering cheap, affordable mobile internet (BIS) with unlimited access to internent browsing, email, and social media, you’re going to pick up subscribers. Not only do users benefit off of BIS for email and messaging , they save huge on multimedia and voice by sending voice messages, pictures and video clips through BBM. The security of the BlackBerry platform and its effectiveness in communication can be labeled as a significant motivator for the youth of future generations across the globe. Looking for any opportunity for advancement, BlackBerry is paving the way for our youth. IMO, RIM isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon and they are absolutely not for sale.
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