In Orlando, Florida

IF I mention e-mail applications, mobile security, online interactivity and a qwerty keyboard on a cell phone, I am sure one brand pops to mind.

But what happens when I throw in an application store for games, music and video content, and name drop rapper/actor will.i.am? That's where the puzzling looks come fourth and you go: “Are we still talking about BlackBerry?”.

Well, your first instincts were correct. In the last few years, BlackBerry, the brand synonymous with businesses who want mobile e-mail and secured connectivity, has been eyeing another pool of users – regular joes like you and me who have never seen BlackBerry devices as anything more than business tools.

Just for the suits?
ST Photo: Sherwin Loh

Or for regular joes too?
ST Photo: Sherwin Loh

Much like how early on, no one saw computers as entertainment devices, cell phones as Internet enabled tools, digital cameras as cell phones and so on.

But millions of others have seen it.

Half of the company's 25 million subscribers belong in the non-business category and a recent report by research company, The NPD Group, revealed that the BlackBerry Curve has outsold the iPhone in the US.

What is more surprising is that the BlackBerry Storm came in third list, with the BlackBerry Pearl coming in fourth.

So it was no surprise that on Tuesday's opening night of the Wireless Enterprise Symposium 2009, Research In Motion (the company behind the BlackBerry) had Black Eye Peas' musician will.i.am kick start the celebration.

Not that any of the 5,000 BlackBerry vendors, developers and fans at the week long event in Orland, Florida, needed another reason to cheer.

If anything, it is a sign that the pivotal business device has successfully branched out, even as other cell phone companies are trying to get a pick of the BlackBerry market.

Newcomer Acer, of PC and laptop fame, is debuting several devices here this year, while the likes of HTC and Samsung are focusing on touch screen devices, all with a focus on the business environment. Nokia has also unveiled a new application for getting your e-mail on your phone.

While I'm sure I have missed a few others, these launches show that the cell phone market is growing despite the recession, with telcos also becoming more heavily involved in the process.

Case in point, look at StarHub's recent unlimited data plan that caps the price at $36.38, to entice more users to pick up data plans.

Last week, I had a member of the public call me to ask for a recommendation for a mobile phone and in my reply, I told him that it all depends on what he intends to do with the device – to make calls, surf the net or take pictures. 

If he had asked me this week, my advice would be to look at phones as two distinct two categories, similar to that of computers. You either get the full-fledged, more expensive laptops (smartphones), or the stripped down, cheaper netbooks (regular phones).

I decided a long time ago that netbooks were not for me and it seems the time is ripe for me to re-look my phone buying habits as well.