From the pinnacles of power by Fortune editor at large Patricia Sellers

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May 4, 2009, 2:59 pm

BlackBerry and me: a tipping point

Did you hear that Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry Curve 8900 toppled Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone as the No. 1 smart-phone in the first quarter? So says research firm NPD Group.

While I’ve never considered myself a barometer of technology trends, I have to tell you, the fact that I bought a Curve 8300 on Saturday says something about BlackBerry’s surging popularity.

You see, I am the furthest thing from a gadget person. When it comes to personal technology, I’m a Neanderthal.

At least I used to be.

I shouldn’t be telling you any of this. After all, I’m a blogger. I rely on the Internet to exchange ideas with you. I depend on your respect for me as a journalist who’s well-connected in every way — including technologically.

Okay, my true confession: I didn’t even own a home computer until a few months ago.

I still don’t have a microwave.

For years, I hid my secret — which you might consider to be a sort of anti-addiction to technology. That’s how I see it. If I keep gadgets out of my personal life, I always figured, I wouldn’t be tempted to work much outside the office. It was a workaholic’s self-discipline. Sort of like an an alcoholic who keeps alcohol out of the house to avoid being tempted to drink.

And my self-denial worked for me for a long while. And I faked my tech savvy even as I wrote about the technology industry. In the summer of 2006, for example, when I was reporting a Fortune cover story about MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, called “MySpace Cowboys,” I couldn’t let these cool dudes know that they wouldn’t be able to reach me by email on weekends. I never told them.

Nor could I tell the rising-star women of Silicon Valley, whom I wrote about last October in a Fortune story called “The New Valley Girls.” These women, who included Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and the top female execs at Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO) and eBay (EBAY), assumed that I was as tethered to technology and “with it.”

Hardly.

I began to slip two summers ago when Apple launched the iPod Touch. I bought one immediately. I was pleased that I could access the web in WiFi zones, like Starbucks stores, but not check my work email too easily. Working outside the office was possible, but it took effort.

Perfect. Then, early this year, soon after Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) released its Mini 100 netbook and the market for these compact notebook computers exploded, I bought one. I also called Verizon to sign up for wireless Internet service in my Manhattan apartment.

I was on the slippery slope, I knew it.

What made me cave completely and buy a BlackBerry? The tipping point was last Tuesday, when I spent hours at the White House. The day was memorable for lots of reasons. While I’ve been around plenty of powerful people during my 25 years at Fortune, I’d never spent a lot of time in Washington’s halls of power.

So there I was, on President Obama’s 99th day in office. I had scheduled brief meetings with a bunch of top women in the Obama Administration not to report a story but to tell them about Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, which is our second-biggest brand behind the Fortune 500 and expanding aggressively. Well, my meeting times with these folks inevitably shifted that day, and it was, I quickly realized, insane that they had to communicate with me via phone because I wasn’t on email.

It dawned on me that these people are working their butts off to save America from swine flu — which was the crisis of the day that I visited — and financial meltdown, and I’m inconveniencing them by resisting basic technology. How rude of me. “I can’t believe you don’t have a BlackBerry!” Susan Sher, President Obama’s associate legal counsel, said to me, graciously.

Sher was my tipping point. And so, out of guilt, embarrassment, and also civic responsibility, I caved and bought a BlackBerry. I already can’t live without it.

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Why do everyone keep bickering about the BB and Iphones. They are simply different devices for different people. They have their strength and weaknesses. Just pick the one that work best for your needs.

Posted By Anonymous : June 18, 2009 12:59 pm

Not being disrespectful but people are idiots especially with the blackberries. blackberries are a little smarter than a streetphone in the phonebooths with the same kind of keypads. People who use blackberries during the Bush era relied on the random and incoherent email messages to work, that’s probably how they came to the conclusion that there were WMD in Iraq.

Email is poison for work because emails do not have the info nor the intelligence to support business requirements, email is disorganized, disjoint, unmanageable, insecure and thus dysfunctional and dangerous to be relied upon for working purposes.

Apple has made progresses in administering and security. Software like SAP installed on a Mac server can greatly make the iPhone a robust and secure corporate mibile sevice through SAP’s Mobile Infrastructure. blackberry is notoriously troublesome with working with SAP.

blackberries are old, inflexible, user unfriendly, lack any real applications, not integratable with other systems.

The iPhone is much more programmable for custom applications. Programmers should start writing applications on the iPhone and put away that hobbled blackberry which is so locked up in platform and application.

Posted By James, Toronto, Ontario : June 17, 2009 10:19 am

Hahahahaha, Pattie. You’ve just made me laugh again. Congratulations for getting yourself fixed with BlackCerry. I was on the same league with you, Techno what? I never really get it. I used to see how people use both their hands typing so fast on their BlackBerries while in meetings, checking their emails, MSN,web chatting etc and My fat fingers never really understood, how the hell will I be able to do the same. Just few months on my 30th birthday, I got a present, the iphone. It took me good 12 hours to master everthing. now I can drive, text, check my emails, do all that. Wow!

Posted By Emelda Mwamanga, Daressalaam, Tanzania : May 11, 2009 1:20 am

Love the iPhone responses. Let me venture to guess you have never worked a day of your life in the corporate world and you likely hang around starbucks with your mac book and iPhone and eventually go home to your parents.

The business world is Blackberry centric because it makes us more productive period. I guess you have some perks of being able to download apps (games) and wasting time with that but sorry I have things to do, places to go and Blackberry is the best device at those functions. iPhone is CAPABLE but is no where near better or as robust when attached to Enterprise Server.

Now please don’t confuse the usage of Mac pc’s in enterprise with iPhobe usage. iPhone would be more then welcome if Apple provided the means to secure and manage iPhone. Its that simple. Apple wants total control so they are the ones outside looking in because there IS interest. They enjoy the profit of the consumer market and will be a niche in said market.

Posted By Frank Castle, NY NY : May 6, 2009 4:22 pm

I can’t live without out my BlackBerry either. Though resist getting a microwave as long as possible.

Posted By Stuart, Los Angeles, CA : May 4, 2009 7:28 pm

After using an iPhone for a year, I just re-activated my old curve. My “rate-of-replying” has increased dramatically and the messenger still is the best out there. Truth is they are the perfect combination together. Shame it costs so juch to run them!

Posted By Yehuda, Essex, Uk : May 4, 2009 6:06 pm

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Being Wired, Pattie! I resisted the urge for the longest time to get a PDA. While I wanted a Blackberry, it didn’t support my company’s email server. So in being a faithful T-Mobile customer (yes I don’t use Verizon), I purchased the T-Mobile Dash about a year ago. And now I look back and wonder how in the world did I survive without one!?

While being able to respond to a journalist’s email at 12 a.m. while lying in bed has helped me do my job better, it’s also come in handy in dozens of ways. I never get lost with my Google maps (forget the need for a $300 Tom-Tom). Out to dinner with my girlfriend’s parents, I can still check in on my Yankees using ESPN mobile updates.

We strive in life to find a comfortable work/life balance and having a Blackberry or any PDA certainly makes that much easier. If I need to leave the office at 5 for a family emergency, I can still get back to my supervisor if a question arises, or respond to a client on the west coast.

My initial hesitancy was that I didn’t want to be “that guy,” tethered to my PDA everywhere I go. Now I don’t want to be “that guy” who still uses a flip phone without a QWERTY keyboard phone.

Posted By John Y, Cranford, NJ : May 4, 2009 4:05 pm

So, what does this have to do with you choosing a BlackBerry over an iPhone? NOTHING. And basically you admitted you’re a luddite, so a BlackBerry is perfect for you since the interface is unevolved. Yeah, better not run with the big boys just yet…get your feet wet on the BlackBerry then realize how inferior it is to Apple’s products. You’ll be lining up for an iPhone soon enough.

Posted By Kitty, Tampa, Florida : May 4, 2009 3:34 pm

Blackberries are for corporate lackeys. The only reason Apple’s iPhone hasn’t taken the corporate world by storm is due to the fact that most major corporate powerhouses are PC-centric. The IT guys fear Apple technology and fight tooth and nail to keep it from their networks.

Please, follow this up with an article on how hard it was to actually figure out your Blackberry. Not intuitive like the iPhone.

Posted By Bill, San Francisco, CA : May 4, 2009 3:30 pm

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