“Why BlackBerry?”, a seemingly more popular question that becomes harder and harder to answer on a daily basis. Those of us who are faithful to RIM and still love our BlackBerrys, usually need no help answering this question. However, some of us do need help. The ones who have yet to venture into the world of BlackBerry will be the hardest to answer the question for, but it is in every way, possible. It may not seem apparent, but some of the features of BlackBerry have remained solid, even if other features have become faded and blurred as differentiators.

For example, enterprise service used to be RIM’s backbone. BlackBerrys were primarily a business man’s phone and everything was just fine and dandy. RIM’s base has since changed over the past two years from business to a heavy consumer base (making up roughly 60% of RIM’s users). RIM hasn’t changed; their market has, and thus we have a problem. They are very focused on trying to please two completely different markets with one main product. RIM needs to separate business from average consumer devices, and possibly merge them down the road somewhere. The major problem that RIM faces is not business vs consumer, it’s Android and iOS. These two operating systems are very media driven, very polished, and offer endless possibilities and fun to the average end user. Android and iOS began as consumer-centric systems which have drastically evolved over the past two years to become somewhat business based as well. Android is now offering some exchange services, many businesses have switched from BlackBerrys to iPhones, so on and so forth.

Though on top of the US market share, RIM’s time up top is limited if they don’t make some drastic changes, and fast. In what used to be the one thing that set RIM and their BlackBerry apart was enterprise support, this is not the case anymore. The competitors are closing in and are trying to swallow the giant that is RIM. I feel that they just might have something up their sleeve though. So, how does this help answer the question “Why BlackBerry?” It doesn’t really, it helps put the question into perspective and defines it more precisely. If RIM is losing traction on the market, and has competitors on their heels for their one huge differentiator, why do I need a BlackBerry? Why do I want a BlackBerry if Android or the iPhone have so much more to offer? We’re here to answer these questions and help make a BlackBerry purchase a little easier for you, or to keep you from jumping ship right before RIM releases their major update of this year, BlackBerry 6.

So what exactly is it that has made you keep your BlackBerry so far, rather than jumping ship, or what made you pick a BlackBerry over some other device? Let us know in the poll below.

This is the beginning of the “Why BlackBerry?” series, and we’re kicking it off today. The series will be a multi-part series formed of editorials, polls, surveys, podcasts, videos, and more. Stay tuned for more.