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BlackBerry Continues Withering on The Vine

Steve Huff — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:31:34 -0400

BlackBerrys (Flickr/Hyku)

BlackBerry makers Research In Motion (RIM) have faced a host of troubles recently, including a widespread European service outage, and now comes perhaps the worst news of all: people just aren't buying BlackBerrys anymore. Toronto's Globe and Mail reports on the Canadian smartphone maker's diminishing market share:

Some analysts believe the total number of BlackBerry users is now declining – or on the verge of declining – as existing customers abandon RIM in greater numbers than new customers sign up.

"This is the first quarter we are expecting zero subscriber growth – a loss in enterprise [customers] offset by a small gain in international consumer subs," said Kris Thompson of National Bank Financial. "Starting next quarter, we see the sub base in a downward spiral with Blackberry 10 potentially slowing [the losses], but we’re not holding our breath."

As depressing as this is, RIM has to soldier on in preparation for the launch of BlackBerry 10 in January. While some analysts apparently believe users in southeast Asia and the Middle East may save the BlackBerry's bacon, others contacted by the Globe and Mail seem to believe the explosion of user preference for iPhones and Android-powered handsets may force RIM to seek novel solutions to remain viable, such as licensing its newest operating system to other cell phone manufacturers.

Should RIM succumb to a buyout and BlackBerrys be consigned to the junk bin of history, we're kind of worried for the person who ends up telling proud BlackBerry user Beyonce, who seems pretty happy with her super-expensive Porsche-designed BlackBerry Bold.

Energizer Is Selling This Charger for a BlackBerry That Doesn’t Exist

David Shapiro — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:41:24 -0400

Yesterday I was dropping off some film at the Walgreen's on Astor Place when I saw the Energizer Energi To Go, a portable cell phone charger, which has a photo on the packaging of a BlackBerry that doesn't exist:
That thing that looks like a BlackBerry on the cover is actually a BlackBerry 8700 with a trackball. But every BlackBerry 8700 (8700c, 8700g, 8700r) has a scroll wheel on the side, not a trackball in the middle, which relegates this representation to the world of fantasy, right next to the BlackBerrys with front-facing cameras.

Plenty of other BlackBerrys have trackballs, but not the 8700, which you can see here. This is like if you walked into a store that was selling aftermarket iPad covers, but the iPads on the packaging had clickwheels to avoid getting cease-and-desisted by Apple.

Here's an illustration of exactly what's wrong:

So why is Energizer using this fake/Photoshopped BlackBerry to sell its generic smartphone chargers? It could be because RIM doesn't want Energizer selling aftermarket chargers and wouldn't grant the company the license to use a photo of a real BlackBerry, or perhaps Energizer didn't want to pay for the right to use a photo of a real BlackBerry, or maybe Energizer didn't want consumers to think this would only work on actual BlackBerrys.

Anyway, no matter the reason, Energizer has created a FrankenBerry that any BlackBerry connoisseur would love to own. They've also made themselves look pretty bush league for a $4.7 billion corporation with this shit.

David Shapiro is Betabeat’s gadgets correspondent and the pseudonymous blogger behind Pitchfork Reviews Reviews.