By LAJU ARENYEKA

You hardly see people with BlackBerry and when you are seen with one, you often get: “Wow! he uses a Blackberry, he must be big or something!” That is what it feels like having a Blackberry in Nigeria. The other day, a guy walked up to me and said ‘this guy uses Blackberry, I saw this stuff on a billboard, it is a powerful machine!”

There’s a reason why I started with the quote above from an online article. It’s a simple phrase that contains only three words. It’s called: “Looking for trouble.” I thought you should also experience the culture shock I had when I first read it a few minutes ago.

Surely, he couldn’t have been referring to our Nigerian campuses where the question:  “What’s your BB pin?” naturally comes directly after “what’s your name?” and just before “what do you mean you don’t have a BB?” depending on the situation.

Was the writer talking about a Nigeria where the terms ‘BIS’ and ‘BBM’ have become regular everyday words? Searching through the article for some form of closure, I found something that will ease your fears – the article had been published three years ago. So that you don’t think I meant three decades, I’ll spell it out closely- Year two thousand and nine only.
So much has changed between then and now.

The blackberry phone has now become a basic status symbol on Nigerian campuses. “Basic” in the sense that, it’s just the starting point, a foundation for anyone who desires to belong. Although owners of the Iphone and galaxy tab might be considered in the same class, there’s just something about the blackberry, at least that is what these students think:

“Other phones might have all the other applications that the Blackberry has, but the blackberry messenger is unique to all blackberry phones.” Said Sule Babajide, a student of History and Strategic Studies.

Yejide Ogunfemi, a 200- level student at LASU said: “Of course I own a blackberry. It’s the in thing. I use it to chat with my friends and family. I hardly buy airtime. I just pay for my BBM. I think I use less than one per cent of the applications on my BB.”

Another student, Bolaji Adewale said: “Of course I own a BB, however, to a lot of people, especially girls, the BB has become something else”.

“Something else” here perhaps refers to the extraordinary lengths many girls reportedly go to, to achieve the feat of owning a blackberry. For a third world nation, 60 per cent of whose citizens many experts suggest, live below poverty line, to be named as one of the largest markets in the world for a phone with a price range between N28,000 to N90,000, it may not seem far-fetched to question the effect of such on social vices.

From real pictures on facebook of a girl stripped naked and beaten because she stole a BB, to fictitious stories of the lady who claims that she no longer uses a blackberry but a BB, this situation may give cause for concern.

The BB was originally made as a phone for business purposes, with over 50 applications. “I use about 70 % of the applications on my blackberry.” Bolaji Adewale said. But not many students can boast of such utility. “I use less than 1% of the apps on my blackberry” said Yejide Ogunfemi “My brother always teases me that I don’t know the usefulness of a BB, he says that I just use it for shakara. I think a lot of people use BBs because it makes them feel big, although that’s not why I’m using it.”

Not everyone seems to be on the heavily loaded bandwagon that is the BlackBerry. Another student, Bukola Ojuoba, said: “I don’t own a BB and I’d rather use my money on credit than to subscribe on the BBy. I’m not a very sophisticated person. I have a lot of gadgets that I don’t know how to use. So I prefer a simple phone that I can put together easily when it falls down”.

Cynthia Ani, who attends a state university in Nigeria said: “I don’t have a BB but I have a galaxy tab. I think that as a student, it’s more durable than the BB. I can browse; I can do my assignments, upload pictures. The only thing that I can’t do on it is to ping, but I can facebook and tweet. I’d rather exchange my galaxy tab for an apple Ipad than for a BB”. Another student, Ronti Saka, seems to have a similar position “I don’t have a Blackberry and I won’t like to get one”.

She says.  “I feel the expenses are too much. Blackberry has become like sachet water, it’s too common. I’d rather get an Ipad or a Galaxy Tab”.

Ajewole Oluwatosin, who studies History Education said: “I don’t have a blackberry, I won’t like to get one because it doesn’t freak me. I think it’s meant for ladies. They are the ones who flaunt it”.

As students on Nigerian campuses struggle to catch their breath in keeping up with the latest trends, the near future does seem bright for the Blackberry phone, but whether it will fizzle out soon or become established as a legacy remains to be seen.