The CrackBerry Curse – By Omar A. Bamahdi

Today I am bringing you a guest post from my friend Omar Bamahdi in which he will be talking to us about the Blackberry … or what he likes to call, the Crackberry!! Mr. Omar, to say the least, is a multitalented gentleman. He does not have a blog yet; but let’s hope he will start one soon. Along with opening a blog wish, I really hope he will go back and finish his PhD degree that he was about to finish few years ago … I told you he is multitalented!

As we are continuing to monitor the power game between RIM (the blackberry manufacturer) and the Saudi CITC in regulating the service; the consumer behavior toward these addictive devices should not be out of the picture. After reading this post, many questions descended to my mind and they might interest you as well. Are these devices really taking us out of the reality and throwing us in the virtual world? Should we be concerned about that? Who should take an action against the addictive nature of such devices? Is it part of the companies’ social responsibility to educate its users about the potential addictive nature of such devices? And … what is the reason that makes a 7 years old kid asks for a blackberry? … Read Omar post …

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[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=Blackberry+phone&iid=3469769″ src=”6/3/3/b/12.jpg?adImageId=12728431&imageId=3469769″ width=”234″ height=”355″ /]Ever had your head in a sack for the past few years, then all the sudden you realize how the next generations are abusing or misusing, literally speaking, almost any new technology!  As stunning as it may sound, Saudi youngsters are getting exposed to many technologies supposedly without any parental or whatsoever kind of supervision.

Forget about old days fooling around with Bluetooth technology, exchanging photos, broadcasting phone numbers, etc…  Two weeks ago, I had to visit the clinic with my family, and once I entered the waiting room, almost five youngsters were posing in concentration with their head glued into the screen and fingers searching for the little buttons of their CrackBerry.  It is true without exaggeration; for God’s sake they were on crack with a lil berry on their palm!  They didn’t even notice that someone has entered the waiting room.

Nowadays, this mobile device, so-called BlackBerry, is a must-buy tool that all youngsters MUST have!  I can see them almost everywhere in the malls, cars, coffee shops, hospitals, grocery stores; not to mention my sister’s house keeper had one, too! Moreover and like is it not enough to pay 1200 SAR for this device, devices with VIP BB numbers are sold for 2000 SAR plus its original prices.  I am sadden with a pity toward our society for having such ridiculous mentality.

It is a triggering phenomenon, believe it or not even my seven years old daughter asked me once … to buy her a blackberry when she pass second grade!  Such hype must be discussed in our schools to enlighten the youngsters, specially, children about the necessity of this device and its original use for business needs rather than a toy for joy.

What do you think? Take a second to express your point of view and how should we educate our children on dealing with new technologies productively!

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Do you have a BB?

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If you are living in Saudi, you must have heard people talking about their BB’s, or you must have already faced the question ‘do you have a BB?’

BB is definitely the talk of the country at the moment … so welcome to the Blackberry hype!

The blackberry has always been perceived as a business kind of a device. Something beyond receiving calls, sending SMS’s, and checking emails. It is a BUSINESS smart phone with all the images coming to mind with that (usually executives in expensive suits riding in the backseats of Mercedes or BMWs checking their calendars for the next meeting!!). This situation is certainly shifting and youngsters are taking over the stage with more fun and dynamics backgrounds.

For the brand, this was a well planned shift. Research in Motion Limited (RIM), the Canadian manufacturer of Blackberry, chose to include the youth segment in its targeting strategies. That was the reason behind the rolling out of different Blackberry models with more slim designs, enhanced music and video capabilities, and friendlier application to Internet browsing and social networking. This well crafted mixture of market penetration and product development has proven to be successful, and I am not only talking about the Saudi market but even back there in US (according to this report, Blackberry topped sales in the smart phone market in the 1^st Q of 2009 beating even the iconic iPhone)

Now Back to Saudi, the BB is everywhere. In coffee shops, malls, and even in offices you would notice young gentlemen and ladies totally absorbed in their BB’s tiny screens typing messages and browsing the net. 

The addictive habits of being always online or hooked up on messenger all the time or checking emails in the bathroom (!) are all becoming a reality for a lot of Saudis. Moreover, as Apple products’ believers have always been considered to form some kind of a cult, the users of BB are also developing their own cult named crackberries (You may want to read this Arab News article).

Such stories give a lot of indications about the nature of the Saudi consumer market. It seems that developing a fashion in here is not that hard (which might be interpreted as a good thing by many marketers). Nevertheless, these fashions tend to be very short cycled. That implies an unstable market where brands cannot build relations with customers; in other words, brands cannot nurture a long term loyal customers (although some customers develop addictive behavior using a BB or iPhone as just mentioned above, switching from one to another does not seem to be a problem for a lot of users; this could emphasis that the addiction is more on the idea of being connected rather than on the brand or the device itself)  

Furthermore, It is very obvious that we have a considerable disposable income (these smart phones are not cheap!). And from the BB popularity among high school and college students, it seems that families are willing to satisfy their boy/daughter starvation to be fashionable (I can think of many marketing campaigns based on this point alone!!).

So … do you have a BB??

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