There was a reason they called it “the Crackberry”. Even Barack Obama, when elected president, insisted on keeping his, even though he went on record as calling it “no fun”.  Ironically, that ended up describing the entire history of perception of the Blackberry. The Blackberry was, once, the single indispensible business tool for most any small business owner, not to mention the panoply of large business employees who used it.

It represented a way to stay connected, anywhere, anytime. You didn’t need to work from your desk any more, many discovered, but rather where ever you happened to be. This spawned a set of new issues…and new technologies.

But now, some wonder, should anyone have a Blackberry anymore? And my answer to that is, yes, and no.

One thing the Blackberry line has not done very well is keep pace. Today, there are dozens of smartphones, not to mention tablet computers, that provide as much mobile computing power as some entire laptops did five to ten years ago. But Blackberry often didn’t keep pace. I’ve seen a variety of different smartphones, over the years, and while Blackberry kept up with its business edge, it found itself hard pressed to compete with the iPhone and the various Android smartphones, which not only offered the business advantages of the Blackberry, but also opened up app stores, offering huge amounts of games, entertainment programs, lifestyle programs, and a variety of things Blackberry did not at the time. Sure, Blackberry fought back with the Blackberry App World, but there was still a pronounced lag. Blackberry was all business, and as President Obama famously remarked, “no fun”. They tried to recover, but found themselves eminently behind.

So to answer the question, you certainly can use a Blackberry in the generic sense, but do you need, specifically, a Blackberry? No, not any more. There are simply too many possibilities out there, tablets and smartphones alike, for you to limit yourself to a Blackberry. It’s good to have a portable computing system, no matter what brand name it takes. And while it used to be that only a Blackberry could be “a Blackberry”, today, Blackberries can be Apples too. Or Androids. It’s great to be in touch where ever you happen to be, but you don’t need one brand name to do the job. Most any mobile device these days can keep you in touch with work no matter where you are, so which ever name you favor, just keep it on hand.

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