For the last several years I have been a Blackberry user addict. Day and night, my Blackberry has been within arm’s reach. During this phase, I
- transitioned from writing most of my e-mails on a computer to composing the vast majority on my Blackberry,
- eliminated my land line at home and relied on my Blackberry,
- placed my files in the cloud, enabling easy access on my Blackberry (thanks Dropbox!),
- joined the social conversation, especially via Twitter, and
- experienced mild anxiety when my Blackberry was sluggish.
For a long time, I was certain I would remain a loyal Blackberry customer for life. When the Bold 9900 launched, I was among those who arrived early and stood in line to ensure I was able to purchase one on the first day it was available.
This past weekend, I waved goodbye to my last Blackberry. I was among the first in line at my local AT&T store to purchase a Samsung Galaxy S4. What happened?
- Blackberry stopped innovating in appropriately aggressive ways resulting in a dramatic decline in market share.
- As one who types constantly on my device, I finally decided it was time to move away from a physical keyboard since the entire market save for the rare exception (e.g., Blackberry Q10) has already done so.
- At this moment in time, Android rules the smartphone world (64% of all smartphones sold in the first quarter of 2013 were Android phones and here in the USA Android accounted for 49.% whereas Blackberry accounted for only 1.7% of smartphones sold).
So What?
I have much to learn before I will feel at home with my new device. In the long run, I feel certain I will be glad I purchased a Samsung Galaxy S4. For now, I am laboring over learning to type (as if for the first time) and struggling to understand the key functionality that will enable me to use my device to work smarter rather than harder. For the next few days, experimentation and becoming clearer about the scope of what there is that I could learn will be my primary focus. Then, the real fun will begin as I begin to progress from novice user to power user on my way to becoming a S4 guru.
- In what year did you first acquire a smart phone? In the year since, how much have you increased your reliance upon that device for personal and professional tasks?
- How effectively do you think you leverage your phone’s abilities to achieve your desired outcomes? How do you strive to continue to intentionally learn about your device and the apps best suited for your interests?
- Whether you are a light, moderate or heavy user of a smart phone, how does its constant presence (or the ability to choose to make it an always on and always available device) contribute to and/or detract from your journey of faith?