[regularfry]

Don't forget that with the Blackberry there was a massive image factor: if you had one, that implied you were important enough to need messaging on the go. The form factor was almost incidental. As full text messaging became ubiquitous it lost its cachet.

[rchaud]

Blackberries were expensive because you needed to pay extra for the BES Exchange Server Sync package, which corporate phones usually needed. The status symbol aspect of it faded because as it turns out, people do not enjoy being at the beck and call of their employers.