Mark Evans

Are You a Crackberry Addict?

I was at a launch party last night for a friend who’s opening an indoor golf facility in Toronto, and noticed that many people not only had Blackberrys but were checking them on a regular basis as if some urgent e-mail would need to be noted at 9 p.m.
Apparently, however, this is common behavior according to a survey done by Digital Life America, which asked whether having mobile devices such as a Blackberry “chain you to work more than they liberate you”. One third agreed, a third were neutral, and a third disagreed. For Blackberry users, the troubling news is the survey discovered they do, in fact, work longer hours. Nearly 20% work more than 50 hours a week (compared 11% of the general population), while 53% believe they don’t have enough personal time (compared with 40%).

As a Blackberry owner, it’s impossible to argue with the survey. The Blackberry is a wonderful device but it’s addictive, consuming and, for many people, completely unnecessary. We all like to think the world is moving faster and every e-mail needs to answered in minutes but it doesn’t really work that way if you step back from the fray. People who have Blackberrys need to discipline themselves to check their e-mail once an hour or once every few hours, and resist the unproductive and annoying urge to check all the time.

And when it comes to being home, Blackberry owners need to put the device away until they’ve dinner with your family, put their children to bed, drank a glass of wine and asked their wife or husband how their day went. When I first met RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie seven years ago, he said his wife made him put his Blackberry in a box near the front door as soon as he came home from wok. I wonder if he still does that. For more on the Blackberry, check out Ars Technia , Alec Saunders, and Slashdot, which provides a link to a radio story on the new workplace.

Update: For your let’s kill some time on Friday entertainment, here’s Rick Mercer’s hilarious video about the Blackberry helmet.

Technorati Tags: Blackberry

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8800 Coming to Canada in Early-March

A little birdie whispered in my ear today that the Blackberry 8800 will be coming to Canada (Rogers Wireless) on March 6. For a sneak peek, check out Engadget Mobile. The 8800 will likely not feature a camera, which will make is much more corporate-friendly. As a long-time Blackberry user, I’m much more excited about the 8800 than the Pearl.

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The Death of the Business Card

Over the weekend, the Globe and Mail has a story about business card was disappearing as “Generation Blackberry’ relies more on electronic data than paper. While the business card may not as much of a corporate staple as it was 25 years ago, the suggestion it is fading into the sunset is overblown - particularly the notion seven million Blackberry users are sounding the death toll.

Truth be told, it’s not the Blackberry or other portable devices in which you can input data that will reduce business card usage but the growth of blogs. If want someone to know more about who you are, what you do and how you think, a blog is doing to a lot better job than a little piece of paper with your name, e-mail address and telephone number on it. In a sense, blogs could take the place of the business card and the resume.

We may get to a point soon where business cards will simply consist of your name and the blog URL, or you could tell someone you met to just Google “Mark Evans and technology” to find you (assuming you’ve been writing for awhile about a particular topic). Then again, there is something formal about business cards that Blackberrys or blogs don’t have. A business card is a sign of a relationship just beginning, which is why in Asia you treat a business card with great respect, and study its information before talking to the person who gave it to you.

So, long live the business card! (For the history of the business card, click here.)

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No Penguins but Hot Pearl Sales

Sadly, Jim Balsillie will not find Sidney Crosby or the Pittsburgh Penguins under the tree on Christmas morning but he can console himself that sales of the Blackberry Pearl are propelling Research in Motion’s sales these days. In the fiscal third-quarter, the company sold 875,000 Blackberrys - 10% higher than management expected - and sales could be close to one million in fiscal fourth-quarter. As for the latest in the “As the Penguins Turn” soap opera, hockey legend Mario Lemieux has pulled the team off the market, while the Globe & Mail reports Balsillie held talks with the NHL earlier this year about moving the franchise to Hamilton, Ont. Meanwhile, Red Herring has a story on why the Pearl has rocked while Palm’s Treo has struggled.

Technorati Tags: Blackberry, Wireless

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No Deposit for You, Mr. Balsillie

Hockey legend and Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux is “shocked and offended” that billionaire and RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie pulled his $175-million bid last week to buy the NHL franchise. Mario’s so pissed he plans on keeping Balsillie’s $10-million deposit because the bid withdrawal constitutes a breach of contract. Wow, $10-million - that’s like 50,000 Blackberry Pearls or more than 400,000 times more than the $2.40 deposit I leave with Beer Store if I buy a 24 of my favourite suds.

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The Power of Paper & Pen

For all my love of computers (especially my new MacBook!), I remain a devoted user of pen an paper. As a reporter, I probably used 10s of thousands of paper to take notes - an exercise that saw me developed my own unique form of shorthand. Even today, I find pen and paper indispensable, and feel naked if I walk out of the house with them. It’s something continues to amuse colleagues, who rely on Palms, Blackberrys and cell phones to take notes. The way I see it, pen and paper are elegant, traditional, unobtrusive. if you pull out pen and paper during an interview or at lunch/dinner, it suggests you’re interested enough in what someone has said that you want to mark it down. Pulling out a Blackberry suggests you want to check your e-mail (even if you’re just taking a note). One of the best pen and paper suggestions I’ve come across is from 43Folders.com, which had a post called the Hipster PDA that talked about using 3″ x 5″ index cards. Brilliant. (Hat tip for this post to Om Malik, who recently spent nearly four hours at a cafe with pen and paper writing out a huge to-do list!)

Technorati Tags: Blackberry, Om Malik

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Dream On, You Canadian Entrepreneurs

The dreams of two high-profile Canadian entrepreneurs appeared to have taken divergent paths. Jim Balsillie, co-CEO with Research in Motion, has walked away from a $175-million offer to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins (and hockey phenoms Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin Eugeny Malkom) - apparently due to the National Hockey League’s refusal to provide him with any kind of flexibility to move the franchise. It must have been a difficult decision for Balsillie, who’s a passionate hockey fan and pick-up player (note: I wonder if he’s allowed to bring his Blackberry on the bench?)
Meanwhile, John Bitove (one-time part owner of the Toronto Raptors) is trying to become the Mark Cuban of Canada with the launch of HDTV Networks, which aims to be Canada’s first high-definition TV network. In applying for a license, Bitove plans to offer free, over-the-air broadcasts. Bitove has a few bucks lying around after taking Canadian Satellite Radio (aka XM Canada) public last year - a move that was a major, major financial home run. Bitove, however, may find HD a tougher nut to crack given there doesn’t appear to be a lot of momentum/consumer adoption despite all the buzz. Maybe it’s a programming issue; maybe cablecos are simply charging too much for the “right” to watch HD.

Technorati Tags: Blackberry, HD, Wireless

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The Pearl is Rockin'

Merrill Lynch analyst Vivek Ayra has seen the light about the Blackberry Pearl. Based on strong-than-expected demand for the Pearl, Ayra has bumped up his 12-month target price on RIM to US$165 from US$135. His bullishness is based the imminent launch of a Cingular Pearl; a huge opportunity in Western Europe where smartphone sales are expected to grow 38% a year until 2010; low-cost monthly data plans such as T-Mobile's $19.99 all-you-can-eat package (Boy, it would sure be great to see those kind of deals in Canada but it's unlikely given how our wireless carriers have embraced “disciplined growth”); and the launch of new Pearl “siblings” such as the Indigo and Crimson, which will feature QWERTY keyboards (which is what will make me jump into a Pearl). 
    Speaking of smartphone growth, In-Stat has a new reported that shows unit sales nearly tripled from 2004 to 2005, and jumped by 50% during the first half of 2006. That said, In-Stat analyst Bill Hughes said there is reason for caution. “Many smartphone users continue to carry the very devices that smartphones are meant to replace. Also, users have been slow to add new applications to their devices. Most users have only downloaded a few applications.” Tags: RIM, Blackberry, Pearl, Merrill Lynch, In-Stat

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What's Happening with the "Q"?

What does Motorola's purchase of Good Technology mean? Does it suggest the consolidation of the mobile e-mail market is picking up steam? Will HP make a play for Seven Networks now that Good and Intellisync (Nokia) have been snapped up? Does this finally mean Research in Motion will see some real competition after owning the mobile e-market for the past five or six years? And what about the much-vaunted Motorola "Q" that was supposed to sell millions of units this year but appears to have stalled? It would be interesting to see how much Motorola coughed up for Good, which has raised more than $200-million in private equity from investors such as Kleiner Perkins. Canaccord Capital analyst Peter Misek said Good had no choice but to sell because the 470-employee company was "running out of money". For more, check out Blogging Stocks. Tags: Motorola, RIM, mobile e-mail, Kleiner Perkins

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Not Getting a Blackberry Pearl

After being given seven whole days to evaluate the Blackberry Pearl, I've decided…not to get one. Why? It likely has much to do with the fact I'm a long-time user of Blackberrys with a QWERTY keypad. As much as the Pearl's SureType keypad is supposed to be inuitive, I found it frustrating. Rather than jump on the Pearl bandwagon, I'm going to wait for the 8800 to come out later this year. While it's not as sexy as the Pearl, it's what I know and like. As for the Pearl, it's got a lot going for it. The small size, great screen and functionality is impressive, and I easily understand why carriers have been having trouble keeping it on the shelves. It's just not for me.

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