It's funny, I gave my GF a Google Galaxy Nexus to use for the last week, to replace her crappy Bold 9700. Within 2 days, she switched back to her BlackBerry.
Me: "Sweety, why'd you switch back? The Android's a much better phone!"
Her: "BBM. And other stuff."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Her: "The phone is good for games and Internet surfing, but I found it really confusing. I couldn't get to my e-mails easily. And I really wanted BBM again."
Now, it could just be her stubbornness in not attempting to learn a new UI. Android isn't necessarily worse or better, just different. However, I think if RIM can deliver games + Internet with BB10 (which they can, just look at the benchmarks and the PlayBook) alongside seamless BBM and messaging, they've got a winner.
Whether it's a winner in North America is a different story. But internationally, where BlackBerry is strong, you'll see a lot of people upgrading.
The usability of the Universal Inbox, which groups all messages and notifications, cannot be overstated. It is just so easy to glance and see all action items, and go directly from there to the app.
For those who've never used a BB, it works like this: Say someone sends you a message or friend request on FB. Sure, you'll see a notification over the FB icon, but you'll also see a message in the Universal Inbox saying "John Doe has sent you a friend request." Clicking on that message takes you directly into the FB app where you can confirm or ignore the request.
It works the same for other apps too. If there is an upgrade available for one of your apps, the message is there; clicking it takes you directly into the App World section for that app. Quite nice.
Me: "Sweety, why'd you switch back? The Android's a much better phone!" Her: "BBM. And other stuff." Me: "What do you mean?" Her: "The phone is good for games and Internet surfing, but I found it really confusing. I couldn't get to my e-mails easily. And I really wanted BBM again."
Now, it could just be her stubbornness in not attempting to learn a new UI. Android isn't necessarily worse or better, just different. However, I think if RIM can deliver games + Internet with BB10 (which they can, just look at the benchmarks and the PlayBook) alongside seamless BBM and messaging, they've got a winner.
Whether it's a winner in North America is a different story. But internationally, where BlackBerry is strong, you'll see a lot of people upgrading.