First taste of a smartphone.
     First things first, I purchased my first smartphone when i was in the 11th grade, which was about 4 years ago. I had never owned a smartphone before, and decided to go all out. The very first iPhone was released in 2007 in the United States. There was no actual release date at the time for the iPhone to be released in Canada so I actually went to the states to purchase the first generation iPhone. I was in love with the phone, especially because I had never been exposed to the capabilities of a "smartphone" before. I could go on the internet, youtube, email, play games, have a gps, and all by touching a screen. The concept of having a touchscreen in my pocket was amazing enough for me, let alone calling or texting someone with it. Eventually, I found myself broke and decided to sell the phone because I thought as amazing as it was, it was sort of unnecessary.
   
     After selling the phone, I ended up purchasing my very first blackberry. Now, while it wasn't as entertaining as the iPhone, it seemed more practical to me. It didn't have a touch screen (although newer models now have touch screens) , it didn't have as much memory, it couldn't browse the internet as fast, but it did to some things right.  It made calls, and sent texts, which essentially is what a cell phone is for in the first place. The cherry on top was that the battery lasted longer (probably because I only used it for calling and texting rather than games and the internet or music) and that it was much cheaper. That was the main factor for me, cost. Which i believe to this day is what keeps RIM going. Although RIM does offer its high end phones to compete at the top of the market, they also offer something apple does not, which is the lower end more affordable phones. Not everybody can drive a Beamer, Benz or a Bently, so cars like Honda civics or Ford Focuses are available. That's how I like to look at it.