BBM: BB Phones Dealers Lament Drop In Sale

Few weeks after BBM service was introduced to Android phones, the initiative has adversely affected the demand for Blackberry phones.
Some dealers who spoke with us lamented the drop in sales of BB phones now that the BBM service is no longer exclusive to BB phones.

Bayo, a dealer who attests to this development said many phone users now prefer android to BB. ‘‘Before now, the use of Blackberry has different hitches and because there was no serious competition, people still rush to buy them. Considering the functions of Andriod phones, I won’t even advise anyone to buy it again because the Andrioid phones have so many applications and advantages that Blackberry does not. For example, you cannot skype on Blackberry but you can do so on other Android phones. BB phones are even very expensive to maintain unlike Andriod phones. Now that the market price has reduced and sales too, obviously we will have little or no Blackberry problems,’’ he said.

Another dealer, Caleb Sonia said, “I applauded the extension of BBM to Androids but the thing I don’t like is the fact that so many people have spent money trying to get Blackberry phones and now, those that didn’t strive for them then are now getting the same opportunity. For example someone with N15, 000 can equally get the same opportunity with someone that purchased his BB phone for N80,000. You know how many girls have gone out of their way to get one. Those that bought theirs for substantial amount of money are getting the same benefit,’’ he said.

A phone dealer at Ogba who gave her name as Judith said though the demand had dropped before the introduction of BBM into Android phone, she stressed it is more visible now. “ Not that people do not like Android phones before now, Android phones have many applications that Blackberry do not have, but then Android phones were considered very expensive, while the users couldn’t ping. But now people are not bothered by the price as it has what they are looking for,” she said.

Opeyemi said his decision to buy android phone was not necessitated by the BBM service but the fact that BB phones are fragile while the battery sets are not durable.
Though most of the android phones are quite expensive, this medium found out that many users now purchase the Android phones which are cheaper and also performs the same functions as others.

November 12, 2013