Outdoor Inbox

If you search for “BlackBerry Addiction” in Google you will get a return of almost 1 million results! I mentioned in a previous article about my own BlackBerry addiction and after doing some research it appears I am not alone.

It’s easy to see why these harmless looking devices are termed “CrackBerry” when everyone from Barack Obama to Beyonce and Ben Affleck to Britney Spears have been spotted emailing away in public. In fact President Obama’s BlackBerry was always either in his hand or attached to his belt in the run up to his famous Presidential campaign.

So I was Googling away and found an article by Bryony Gordon of The Telegraph talking about her own addiction, even after taking possession of her BlackBerry only three weeks earlier. Her article opens with a comment about the red flashing light that appears when you have a new message and it was reading this that I discovered I was not alone in my own BlackBerry madness. There are some comments from readers at the end of her story saying things like, “there is an off button” and “get a life” etc but these people know nothing!

You see it is the red flashing light that gets me every time. It controls my life and has become an obsession.

The ringer and vibration alert are turned off on my 8900 because it is annoying for my family, work colleagues, friends etc to hear it going off every few minutes – I’m conscious of that and the silence is not a problem. So I check the top right to see if any emails, Twitter tweets, Facebook alerts or Skype messages have been received. The trouble is, I do it all the time.

I always know if it’s a real alert because it catches my eye and keeps flashing when I look but every now and then I get tricked, by my own obsession with the bloody thing! Watching TV and something red on the TV reflects against the BlackBerry – I’m there like a shot, checking for the continued red flashing. I pick up the device and something red in the room (one of my sons in their school uniform perhaps) makes it seem like there is a red flash on my BlackBerry, I’m there again – was it a false alert???

I wouldn’t mind but 95% of the messages I receive are un-important. I’ve filtered out a lot of the spam but still get marketing stuff through, Facebook alerts from people I don’t know and Skype messages from Chinese manufacturers I would never dream of doing business with but I have to check, every time.

I first realised the extent of my BlackBerry addiction about 5 years ago whilst on holiday in Spain. I hadn’t taken my mains charger because my old 8700 used to last 10 to 12 days before needing charging and we were only away for a week, seemed pointless taking it and using precious baggage space. On the first day of the holiday I made the mistake of locking it in the safe of our apartment. It was set to switch off at midnight as it usually was and turn itself on at 7am (very well trained was my 8700). The problem was, we didn’t awake until around 11am and the poor thing had been trying to get a signal from inside the safe for 4 hours and had all but drained the battery in doing so. I was gutted!

I spent the next day and a half dragging my pregnant partner and our 18 month old son around the local mobile phone shops trying to find a charger. The situation was bad, very bad. The BlackBerry hadn’t really caught on in Spain yet back then and most stores had never even seen one, let alone stocked spares. Needless to say I was miserable for the rest of the week and my holiday was ruined. I learned my lesson and now never go away without a spare  battery and the mains charger!

It’s sad isn’t it? But in response to Beerio who replied to Ms Gordon’s post, “You know, you can always turn the flashing off…. That way you might actually be able to do something else“, yes you can turn it off but why would you want to? Who knows, the next message could be from the National Lottery informing me of a winning ticket but more than likely it will be my friends in China again, letting me know of their latest range!

Now, is that my BlackBerry flashing again? Yes it is – gotta go…

David

David Allen BlackBerry Articles

I have been an avid BlackBerry fan for over 6 years now.

Working for a company that sells mobile phones for business I had never been happy with any of the so called “mobile email” offerings that were available in 2002. They were either too clunky and slow and/or cost the earth to use. You also need to carry a device the size of a small house around with you (Nokia Communicator anyone?).

You see I had just started selling on eBay and had created my own web site selling software and other digital products so I was in need of something I could use for email, wherever I happened to be.

One day, T-Mobile (or was it still one 2 on?) sent a whole bundle of data products as demos to our store. I can remember it well; there was a Sony laptop with a GPRS datacard (complete with theft proof display stand), an early HTC PDA phone (which my boss’ wife nabbed) and plain old looking monochrome BlackBerry 6280. I ended up with the BlackBerry to, in the words of my boss, “…have a play with it”.

Well! I had seen BlackBerries on O2 but you needed expensive software, a server and loads of other stuff I didn’t have so I was surprised to learn that T-Mobile were launching their BlackBerry range with the BIS system, using RIM’s own email servers; on T-Mobile it was called Instant Email. I didn’t need thousands of pounds worth of stuff and a Masters degree in BlackBerry to get it working. In fact I was up and running, receiving emails within minutes!

That first weekend I was away in Peterborough visiting my family and took it with me (to continue “playing” with it). I was awoken at 3.30am on the Saturday morning by a loud buzzing noise.  It was the BlackBerry letting me know that I had received an email (yes, I had not discovered the auto-off function at that stage of my “playing”). It was an eBay enquiry from someone in the USA and, even though half asleep I still managed to write a reply. I woke up to find further emails – one from eBay telling me the buyer had made a purchase, the other from PayPal telling me he had paid – yippee!

In fact, because I could give instant email replies to enquiries, that weekend I did a total of three sales and made a healthy £200 profit which I may not have done had I waited until the Monday when I was back at my PC. I was sold!

Since then I have never been parted from my little RIM companion, no wonder they were tagged “CrackBerries” when they were first launched.  Not only am I in instant contact via email, I can browse the internet, connect to Facebook & Skype and even listen to hot tunes when bored.

As a business mobile seller(yes I’m still there after almost 12 years!) I have encountered lots of Windows brainwashed IT departments that just don’t “get” BlackBerries – “sorry, it has to be Windows Mobile to work with our servers” (NO IT BLOODY DOESN’T!) but the tide is turning. Many clued up business users are now realising what a valuable (and easy to use) tool the BlackBerry really is. I’m selling more BlackBerries now than any other “mobile email device” and people are loving them!

One of my first BlackBerry customers was a small firm of heating engineers in Bolton. The forward thinking owner wanted to free up time, both for him and his engineers, so we hatched a plan. Using a combination of PC software and BlackBerries he was able to book the following days jobs for his employees. Everything was sent overnight, via email, to the BlackBerries and when the engineers left their houses in the morning they would have names, addresses and full details of  problems for all the days appointments. There was no need to for them to call in to the office every morning to collect job sheets, it was all in the palm of their hands. Six years on and the company is still using this system to great effect, in fact I’m just about to upgrade them to Javelins!

If you would like to find out how you would benefit from the “ultimate business communication tool” then please contact me. I work for T-Phone in Bolton and we supply business mobile communication solutions across the UK. My office number is 01204 595335 or contact me via our web contact form here.

Thanks for visiting my site!

David Allen

David Allen BlackBerry Articles

Ok, so if you’ve never owned a BlackBerry and never looked in to purchasing one then terms like BIS, BES and BPS will sound like boring  jargon and to be honest even if you do have one it’s still boring!

It’s important to know though, that just acquiring a BlackBerry and sticking a sim card in it will not bring floods of emails to your hand, nor will it allow web browsing or even multi media messages (MMS).  In fact, without a BlackBerry data add on you will only be able to make and receive calls and text messages (SMS).

So what’s the difference then?

BlackBerry Enterprise Server – BES

First, a little history lesson; In the early days, BlackBerries were only usable by corporate companies with their own mail servers running the likes of Microsoft Exchange etc. You need a separate server to run the BlackBerry software and had to pay an arm and a leg to buy the software and licences and to have it installed by a RIM certified IT boffin. In return you got FULL synchronizationbetween Outlook and your handheld – mobile ecstasy for those that could afford it and had the technology available. They earned the nickname “CrackBerry” because top flying New York lawyers were rushing out of court in between cases to catch up on emails! It was gadget heaven – but a bloody useful gadget heaven at that.

BlackBerry Internet Service – BIS

In the mid 90s in the UK, T-Mobile launched their Instant Email system for BlackBerry using the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) which used Research In Motion’s (RIM – BlackBerry manufacturers) own mail servers to send and receive mail. This meant that the Average Joe could run a BlackBerry without the need for expensive equipment and software. You could add up to 10 of your own email addresses to receive mail but the outgoing emails were always sent via the BlackBerry servers. The only downside was that it’s only email that you receive wirelessly. To sync your Outlook calendar and contacts etc you had to plug in a USB cable between your PC and the handheld. For most though, getting the emails quickly and cost effectively wherever you are in the world was enough. This service is still available from T-Mobile and has since been introduced by O2, Vodafone and recently by Orange.

BlackBerry Professional Software – BPS

The BlackBerry Enterprise Server system (BES) is still available for large corporate companies with over 30 users but a few years ago RIM introduced a new system called BlackBerry Professional Software (BPS) for people wanting the full synchronization. Unlike the BES system, BPS is a free download and covers up to 30 users. The first user licence (CAL) is included (£50 each for additional CALS at the time of writing) and the best bit is, it can be installed on the same server as Exchange or whatever mail software you use. The install can also be done by your IT guy (or company if you outsource) so you don’t have to pay over the odds to certified RIM techs. With BPS you can have full control of the BlackBerry devices being used and as well as full remote synchronization you can disable a device if it is lost or stolen and do remote back ups and restores.

The running cost of BPS is now affordable now as well. I can remember the original BES users having to pay upwards of £40 per month per user to enable the BlackBerries but BPS can be run from as little as £10 per month now!

Which is for you then?

If all you really need is email, web browsing, Facebook, Twitter etc plus calls and messaging then the BIS is ideal as it’s very affordable and there is no messing about. Set up a BlackBerry web account with your mobile network and you have full control of email set up. (It can also be done on the device itself but I prefer using the web client as it is a lot easier to use).

If you are often out of the office and need remote syncing with your Outlook diary and contacts then either BPS or BES are required and if you need less than 30 BlackBerries for your company then BPS is the most cost effective solution.

I hope this has explained a little some of the BlackBerry jargon and perhaps now you do know the difference between BIS and BES.

To find out more and to discuss how BlackBerry can benefit your business then please contact me, David Allen, at the office on 01204 595335 or via my contact form here.

David Allen

David Allen BlackBerry Articles