Blackberrys- this years most popular Christmas gift for teenagers?
Ellen is currently a Y10 student in Secondary school in England and recently called me telling me she wanted a Blackberry for Christmas. I personally couldn’t understand the attraction as to me the Blackberry had always been a business phone for people that wanted to read emails on the go. So I was even more surprised when she told me she wasn’t the only one and that they were extremely popular in her school. When I spoke to her further about this, it seemed this was connected with a move away from camera and music phones towards only wanting a phone to text, call and as ‘an added bonus’ use the internet. Personally I think this is most likely connected to the new Facebook culture in schools where people constantly share photos and want to look at their best, and therefore want higher quality pictures and an easy method of connecting to the computer. As a result young people have begun to use their actual cameras more regularly and the quality of cameras on phones is less important, with high quality camera phones usually being out of price range. In fact I spoke to two students about why they wanted Blackberry’s one in secondary school and one in university, and neither even knew if the Blackberry had a camera. On the music side, nothing comes close to the the iPod and short of buying the iPhone having a separate device is in general thought to be considered the best option. In comparison Internet is becoming an increasingly important function. With social networking becoming as regular as texting, ease of use for both functions is a massive advantage. Therefore the blackberry media messaging system, as blackberries increase in popularity, becomes an increasingly popular way to keep in contact.
Another factor is simply that they are high quality phones, which are actually affordable. People are becoming ‘bored’ of the standard phones and want something new, but most of the top range phones are too expensive for people in school on a low monthly allowance. Blackberry’s allow for an iPhone apps type format, which is the latest and best in phone technology, whilst just remaining in an affordable price range.
However even with their current popularity with mobile technology progressing so fast who knows what phones will be fashionable for Christmas next year.
