Once upon a time, I was the proud owner of a Blackberry Pearl. (Don’t laugh) I had worked my way up at a previous employer to be in a position to recommend the products the company purchased. Since mobile e-mail was king, we ended up purchasing a fleet of Blackberry devices. My first smartphone impressed me so much that when I left the company I decided to buy one for myself. I owned two before the Pearl was released, and I really though I had found the perfect smartphone for me. The size, form factor, and RIM’s e-mail integration made this a real winner in my book. Some days, I miss the feeling I had when I first got it…there’s nothing like the thrill of buying your next tech toy. This was right about the time the iPhone began to gain traction as an all touch screen smartphone that had a host of other features that a Blackberry couldn’t hope to match.
