Today is a big day for me. Today is the day I finally get rid of my BlackBerry. I have been a loyal user for more years than I can remember. I have owned a Pearl, Curve, Torch, and other models I can’t recall the names to. I stuck with BlackBerry for one simple reason; they do messaging better than any other device. I grew accustomed to the instant notification of a new email. Often before it even hit the inbox on my computer. I liked the physical keyboard and all the shortcuts I learned. Unlike some I am a true smartphone power user. I admit I drug my feet on this one. I was even willing to pay the extra monthly fees in order to keep it. For those non-BlackBerry users out there you have to pay an Enterprise fee plus a license fee to use the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. But I finally came to the realization that I was becoming a dinosaur.
I got sick of carrying around two devices when I left the house; an iPod and a phone. Truth be told my iPod broke so I have been “borrowing” my sons. He was cool about it but he was happy when I told him I wouldn’t need it anymore. I also disliked the fact that there were no apps to make things quicker for me.
I have converted everything else in my life to an Apple product so this decision seemed the most logical. It didn’t make sense to have separate ecosystems for my phone and my computers and my tablets. So I finally made the purchase of an iPhone. I doubt it will solve all of my wants with a phone; I will definitely miss the flashing red light when a new message is waiting for my attention.
I was in a meeting recently and I joked that I started with BlackBerry and I was going to ride the ship down with the rest of the loyal fans. But they simply stopped innovating, they didn’t adapt to a changing landscape.
Are you doing the same with your business IT security? Refusing to change to the new threat landscape?