The shutdown of blackBerry devices, which was effected on Tuesday, January 4, 2021, has triggered reactions from Nigerian phone dealers, as they expressed their sentiments to the development.
BlackBerry, which used to produce some of the coolest mobile devices, would no longer offer support smartphones that run BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10, a development that signaled an end of an era.
With the latest in the tech world, the BlackBerry services required to keep wireless connectivity/data services running on the mobile devices and others had now been switched off.
Reacting to the BlackBerry shutdown, a spokesperson of Computer Village, a popular electronic device market in Lagos State, identified only as Godwin, expressed his conviction that many Nigerians would not be affected in any way.
According to him, a lot of people had since moved on from using BlackBerry devices before its shutdown.
Godwin’s words: “If I’m right, 95% of Nigerians have stopped using Blackberry; so shutting it down is like winding down a business that has long been shut down. I don’t think the effect will be felt by anybody.
“Blackberry had sometimes about three or four years ago, if I’m right, informed the public about the shutdown. When Android came, people no longer considered Blackberry, they left Blackberry and shifted to Android and Windows phones such as Lumia.
“But the problem people encounter most of the times with Windows phones is that it’s difficult to use some applications like WhatsApp. Some phones especially those from Windows are not compatible with WhatsApp and it’s hard to find someone who does not use WhatsApp in Nigeria.
“They’ve started winding down before now and the truth of the matter is that nobody will feel the impact of the shutdown. The circulation of Blackberry especially during this period when Android and Iphone are all around has reduced drastically.
“People have stopped using the device even before they shut down. Let me just say about 98 percent of the Nigerian populace has shifted to Android and iPhones. They find those phones more advanced than Blackberry products.”
Corroborating Godwin’s opinion, Abuja-based phone dealer known as Kings Phones, stated: “Before now, everybody had been informed that the device would shut down.
“So everybody has zeroed their minds from it already. Shutting it down yesterday did not come as a surprise to me. People don’t really use Blackberry anymore in Nigeria.”
