Interesting indeed and I personally think the reason RIM is gaining momentum in countries like SA is because of the SP and their exorbitant tariffs. I reckon they will still gain more users here in SA due to the SP doing & a cheaper Blackberry (8520) whereby other manufactures don’t have a cheaper alternative.

Some very interesting points being raised here, I do believe though if Blackberry doesn’t bring something incredibly innovative to the table, companies like Apple and google will slowly start eating away at their market share. They need more than just augmented reality and gaming as these technologies have been around for a while now and therefore are highly competitive. It leads blackberry down a road that Apple and others want them to take. The only way I Blackberry and it’s bbm surviving is if they take a totally new direction. These communication systems have only been running for half a decade or less now and look how incredibly diverse they have got, yet blackberry wants to head in a direction that they know will involve future competition that they probably wont be able to handle due simply to the financial dominance of the larger companies in the industry and their ability to buy out companies simply for their patents and key features. Blackberry have a competitive advantage at present and therefore a chance to take their service in any direction they want. Serious creativity and innovation is needed if they are to survive.

Dave Perrott

It doesn’t ask me if the phone is unlocked (purchased from Apple unlocked) or not?..what a rip off!!!!