Blackberry has the smallest market share among the young demographic (18-24) among the major phone OSs (Windows doesn't count), and I'm wondering why that is ? Obviously it doesn't have the same appeal as Apple of Android despite being as good, if not better, than them, particularly in terms of messaging which is the main reason young people use their phones. Basically what I'm wondering is why Blackberry is failing among the young demographic despite there being no major drawbacks to it over Android or iOS. If anyone can give a reason why they think this is then that would be greatly appreciated.
Branding and Timing. Apple and Android have branded their products to end consumers, much better then RIM/Blackberry ever did. Do the math, if a person who is 24 years old was born in 1989, they would have been exposed to the first generation of the iPhone in 2007 when they were 18 years old, perfect time to afford a smart phone. Anyone 25 years and older experienced Blackberries during their hay days, when they were the only smart phone players in the market.
Why would anyone buy a phone they'd never seen any of their friends use, and which none of their friends could help them with, and which had an OS completely unfamiliar to them? Kids can start with an iPod touch, and then they already know how to use most of the iPhone functions.
BBM isn't much use if none of your friends have it, is it? (It might be, I've never used it. But I thought it was Blackberry to Blackberry.)
It doesn't matter if it's better if they don't think it is. And there will be plenty of older ex Blackberry users they'll run into who can fill them in on how far behind Apple, etc, their last Blackberry was.
Apps availability is a killer too. If an iPhone or Android using friend recommends an app, what are the chances it'll *ever* be available for Blackberry? If they hear of a new app coming out, same story. It's usually Apple first, Android later, Blackberry maybe, probably never. It doesn't matter how many thousands of apps are available, it's whether it runs the one you want that count.
I used Blackberries from 2005 to 2013 for work. I helped convince them to stick with Blackberry one more time when our contract ran out in 2011, but it wasn't even worth trying this time. The user complaints were getting louder and louder. We rolled out 80 iPhones and I've never had such a smooth rollout, so few questions about how to use the new phone, or so few phone failures since. We've had way more charger failures (with Blackberry none, ever), but I'm happy to trade charger failures for the phone failures we used to get.
I'd never used any iOS device myself, but I had no problems using it after the first 5 minutes. I miss the keyboard while I'm struggling with fine editing operations, but I'm compensated for it by not having to deal with water damaged keyboards any more.
I've never used a recent model Blackberry, or OS later than 7. They might be good, but would I risk buying one to find out? Not now. Can't see why someone who'd never used one would even consider it.
Your asking about a demographic that although wants to be "independent" and not "follow the masses" does just that. Peer pressure and acceptance is a big part of the younger generation. Just look at Facebook and twitter. Name 5 people under 35 who do not have the apps. Use Iphone? I have an Ipad for work. Biggest pain in the butt. No internal applications work and information from Apple is the device is not designed to be used in a normal business environment. Doe snot support Flash or Java.
Do we have IPhones? Yes but generally the only people who want them are in the "me too" demographic.
Why don't young people like Blackberry ?
Thanks button.!!
