[Hidden-tech] New Verizon Cell Phones?

[Chris Hoogendyk]

Joan Long wrote:
> I heard from an IT person that they recommend Droid to their clients 
> over Blackberry. Supposedly, Blackberry is much more expensive per 
> month for the e-mail feature, and the technology is going to be behind 
> the others within a few years.  Of course, I am hearing this now that 
> I am finally used to using the Blackberry.  I think there's a Droid in 
> my future.

Personally, I like the idea of the iPhone (can't afford one, but my 2.5 
year old granddaughter knows how to use one). Many linux and free 
software fans like the idea of the Droid on principle, and Linus has 
endorsed it. However, I would not discount Blackberry, and I certainly 
wouldn't be bold enough to pronounce that they will be behind within a 
few years. RIM has a $40B market capitalization. I don't know what their 
company finances are like other than what I just checked on MarketWatch, 
but you can't count on a company that size to walk away from their 
market without a fight. Last survey I saw, they still had the largest 
market share of smart phones. Things change, and you really can't be 
sure what it will be like in a few years. There is lots of competition 
and lots of research and development going on behind closed doors. The 
financial stakes are huge. According to Wikipedia, there were 4.1B 
mobile phones in use in the world for a population of 6.8B people as of 
December 2008! Smart phones are just part of that, but they are where 
things are going.


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Chris Hoogendyk

-
   O__  ---- Systems Administrator
  c/ /'_ --- Biology & Geology Departments
 (*) \(*) -- 140 Morrill Science Center
~~~~~~~~~~ - University of Massachusetts, Amherst 

<hoogendyk at bio.umass.edu>

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Erdös 4