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RIM Pushing BlackBerrys To Students – Is There A Demand?

by Ronen Halevy on Jul 2nd, 2008 at 7:30 am EST
8 Comments »
 

StudentBerry_File6Originally the BlackBerry was designed for business. Now everybody seems to have a smartphone of one sort or another. Josep pointed out to me that RIM even has a section of their site dedicated to students with some pretty crappy offers. We have mentioned the StudentBerry class/task management application previously and I am sure the Facebook application is a sure hit with students. There is also the gwhizmobile.com graphing calculator and flash cards.

It has been interesting to see that over the years the BlackBerry has moved from the business & work domain to more personal uses. It has been awhile since I was on a college campus and I feel I just have to ask…

Are you a BlackBerry toting student?
Is the BlackBerry truly useful for students?

Let us know what you think!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 and is filed under News.
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8 Comments to “RIM Pushing BlackBerrys To Students – Is There A Demand?”

  1. Posted by: trinybwoy
    July 2, 2008 at 10:45 am EST

    Yes, the blackberry is a very powerfull tool for a college student.
    I use beyond411’s dictionary.com plugin to constantly look up new words I am encounter.
    The serach is super fast, so I’m always 30secs away from learning new words. Lol
    The calender is a no brainer, so it for my class schedules. Also use it to invite friends who have blackberries to study sessions etc. And of course the occasional party lol.
    Information is never far away, I’m in the IT field, so I’m always looking online for new stuff.
    And of course with the addtion of facebook, and I poke my friends all day long hahaha

  2. Posted by: Calum McFarlane
    July 2, 2008 at 11:42 am EST

    At 28 I’m a bit of an old student, but it fits my life perfectly. I had a very real and very pointless addiction to the internet, and I had to find a way to put a stop to it. A blackberry was the perfect solution. I gave up my internet and home phone line, which was only there so I could use the internet. The handset was free and the monthly charge is the same as I was paying for my line and net, but with 200 minutes, 400 texts and unlimited internet (I realise that here in the UK we get a much better deal than the contracts I hear about in the US and Canada). Now I can move away from the computer and finally get some work done. Facebook is perfect. Messages come to me instead of endlessly checking on the computer. The same with emails. All RSS feeds of interest go to Viigo. Jivetalk for instant messaging. Opera mini has been amazing because the Blackberry browzer is terrible. I can keep all my notes in one place. As mentioned by another poster the calendar is for ‘classes’, which change constantly on my course. And the long bus journey to and from university is a lot less boring. I realise the internet addiction was really just me obsessing about whether people had messaged me or if sites I like had updated. Now the blackberry tells me when that happens so I don’t need to think about it, and I can get on with other things. I didn’t get it because I’m a student. It’s just perfect for me anyway. I have noticed it being advertised a lot on UK tv lately, which it NEVER used to be and I’m sure a lot more typical students will be getting more interested now.

  3. Posted by: Nikolaus
    July 2, 2008 at 12:05 pm EST

    I have not used StudenBerry before but my wife who is in University does and she really likes it and uses it a lot. I personally see a lot of young people with BlackBerrys. I think RIM should push student apps for the BlackBerry.

  4. Posted by: Nikolaus
    July 2, 2008 at 12:06 pm EST

    Sorry, I meant to type “Studentberry”

  5. Posted by: Richard Puckett II
    July 2, 2008 at 1:18 pm EST

    Yikes, maybe RIM should stay away from Cypress then! :)

    http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=4878

    But yeah, the BlackBerry confers many of the same benefits to students as it does to a business professional (having been both over the past few years). Using the calendar to track homework due dates and exam schedules makes a huge difference. And of course it’s nice to chat with friends over IM during the downtime between classes.

  6. Posted by: Ashley
    July 2, 2008 at 1:32 pm EST

    I’m a college student and the bb is GRRREAT for us!! Especially during our 1-4 hour breaks from class! i love my curve!! I mostly got it for the texting bc i text A LOT. the apps are great too! i use cnn, google search, beyond411 all the time while im @ school! plus its great for when a professor emails us to tell us class is canceled!! lol! =)

  7. Posted by: Arron
    July 2, 2008 at 4:03 pm EST

    As a college student, I find my Blackberry to be invaluable to me. I put my class schedule in my calendar, along with advising appointments, meetings, etc… I have used the browser to cheat on Spanish exams, I use facebook to stalk fellow classmates, and i use the media functions to distract me during and outside of class.

    All in all, it really has its uses (especially the cheating part!) and I have convinced several of my fellow students to use it. In fact, I’ve gotten 5 of my friends to purchase blackberries, all of whom are students.

  8. Posted by: Nikolaus
    July 2, 2008 at 4:41 pm EST

    Sounds like RIM should be really paying attention (except for the the cheating part!)