Blink. Left. Right. They’re everywhere. The object of so much love can be seen around the country, almost everybody has one. Blackberry mobile phones continue to sell very well around Muscat and have been for the past couple of years. The device has swept aside previously huge market-leader Nokia and it still manages to fight off the rest of the world’s revered Apple iPhone. The secret to everybody hearts or pocket has been the notorious BlackBerry Messenger that you may have heard while passing people ‘What’s your BBM’ or ‘BB..BB’. Phones outside the Middle East constantly compete on bringing customers new features in every new model but Research In Motion (Blackberry manufacturer) has managed to get away with keeping it simple and that is changing nothing. They must be on to something. Let us not forget the second most important thing about the phone, BRICK BREAKER.
The device has built a huge fan base in the country. Often seen as a business device of communication and yet it has managed to start a trend that has pretty much set a standard for mobile phones. Users are shocked to hear outsiders admit that they don’t have a ‘BB’, if you don’t have one then I’m sure you have noticed this and trust me you will probably end up buying one just like I did. Even the IPhone and Android users eventually get a BB for the sake of “belonging”. Thankfully I have managed to not get addicted as the majority have. I try to resist every-time I see an entire group of people at dinner whipping out their phones and sometimes chatting to each-other even when they’re less than metres away.
Get out there and buy one, unless you’re a cool person already *sarcasm*. But on a serious note if you want to communicate locally then you may as well, the service has brushed texting aside with the cost being as low as 2 Rials a week. You’ll be sure to find a lot of funny messages & groups and inevitable a little garbage. The addiction will probably get to you, acting normal will only make you look stranger to ‘BBers’. The trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Excellent for pretend-typing when walking past people.
