The Smartphone battle is as hot as it’s ever been.  In Jamaica, the battle seems to be down to three major brands and an underdog – Blackberry, Samsung and Apple’s iPhone and with Nokia in the distance.

Usage of Android phones and iPhones increased significantly over the past year or so and now account for half of the Smartphone market for the first time, according to local experts as well as trend data from Google. But despite the fall in popularity of the Blackberry in the US, Europe and other markets, the BB as it is affectionately know by its followers, is the still a local favorite. The BB obviously holds a certain level of appeal for its Jamaican users.

Peek into any executive board room meeting or walk into any random office and you’re bound to see one or a dozen of these antagonist phones, their keys clicking like rain on a tin roof. To owners of Android-based phones and the iPhone, particularly in the US, the BlackBerry is starting to look more than a little too old-school. These phones don’t really run apps. Their screens are usually much smaller than those of Smartphone competitors, meaning it’s difficult or impossible to browse the Web comfortably or watch online video.

But here’s the kicker: despite the fact that the BlackBerry isn’t hip or high-tech the phones are still the most popular (or at least the most common) in the Jamaican market. According to a handful of interviews with BlackBerry users, there are two basic reasons: People are addicted to the click-clacking of the physical keyboard and the Blackberry Messenger.

Blackberry still has the allure of being a distinctly business-oriented phone. It’s not famous for running flashy applications or playing games. It started out as a business-minded device, and RIM has continued to market it as a business-friendly device, although recent ads and models have pitched it as a leisure phone for young multi-taskers as well.

The second is the Blackberry Messenger or BBM. BBM is an instant messenger application included on BlackBerry devices that allows messaging between BlackBerry users. Most consider this a cost efficient feature since it can send unlimited text-based messages once signed up for a data plan. However, the rising popularity of IM apps like MSN Messenger, G-Talk and the cross-platform messenger Whatsapp, might be negating this benefit. Whatsapp can be used to send IMs to Blackberry Phones, iPhones, Android phones and Windows phones.

But if the popularity of the BB is in fact waning as several reports and studies have shown, who has picked up the slack. Enter Samsung and Apple’s iPhone.

Samsung’s rise has been driven by a blend of elegant hardware designs, popular Android services and extensive global distribution. Android is an open source OS created by Google that integrates wide the range of Google software and apps e.g. Google Talk, Gmail.  Samsung has demonstrated that is it possible, at least in the short term, to differentiate and grow by using the Android ecosystem. Samsung not only overtook Nokia in sales globally last year, but now accounts for about one-quarter of Smartphone’s in Jamaica.

Samsung is the market leader, selling about 50 million Smartphone’s in the second quarter of 2012 to Apple’s 26 million. While there is one basic iPhone, Samsung offers Smartphone’s at every conceivable price.

Samsung is more innovative than people believe. It holds a huge number of patents, not so much for products such as phones but for processes – clever production techniques.  Despite a number of items and mobile devices, the Samsung ‘Galaxy’ line of mobile products has almost by accident become the flagship for Android devices.

While Apple is limited to only one handset, and one tablet, Samsung enjoys success across a variety of models, with the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note Smartphone’s and tablets like the Galaxy Note 10.1. While none of these products garner as much attention and customer loyalty as Apple products, Samsung is counting on the fact that consumers are slowly realizing that Samsung products are just as solid as Apple’s. With a larger lineup for picky customers, Samsung has correctly banked on their product variety offsetting Apple’s sheer brand recognition.

So how did the iPhone become a factor in all this?  The introduced the Apple iPhone 3G exclusively on CLARO’s Network. The presence of CLARO Jamaica and their introduction of 3G Mobile Internet showcased to Jamaicans, increased speed and capacity of Mobile Internet on their phones.

When CLARO left the market, the iPhone contract went to telecom provider LIME. LIME launched the Apple iPhone 4 on June 14, 2011. Their customer’s loved it enough that they launched the Apple iPhone 4S on January 13, 2012.

The cost of an iPhone was seemingly once out of the reach of ordinary Jamaicans. However, the iPhone can be had on a LIME mobile plan for a shade over $6000 (tax included) a month. This hip, young device offers a bevy of apps, as well as the game-changing personal assistant feature, ‘Siri’ which shatters the realm of artificial intelligence for any piece of technology.

Apple has been known for its near cult-like following, with an enviable ecosystem that brings together hardware, software and mobile apps and services like no other company can.

So there’s tried and proven – Blackberry, the do-everything new kid on the block – Samsung and the innovator Apple iPhone. So where does that leave the original old faithful – Nokia. In the dust maybe?

For 14 years, Nokia has been the world’s top selling phone, and truth be told, is the phone of choice of local telecoms providers, as Nokia can be considered the brand of the masses. After all, who can forget the Nokia 3310 – the original phone of the masses?

The Nokia that now exists is struggling to transition its Smartphone’s from the Symbian system to Windows-based Lumia devices, which is why it has teamed with Microsoft.  Nokia which is increasingly dependent on the Lumia line hopes its phones will fall in step behind Google’s Android products and Apple’s iOS offerings. While reviews of the Lumia/Windows-based line have been positive overall, sales has not followed suite.  Maybe there’s simply no space in the mobile world, in between die-hard iPhone users, faithful BB users and flashy Samsung users, for sentimental Nokia users.

Local phone users are no longer locked into narrow phone choices of local provides, but often purchase unlocked phones online from sources like Amazon and EBay or from flea markets and other places overseas. This has also contributed to the decrease in popularity of the Nokia. As one blackberry user opined, “there’s nothing ‘cool’ about a Nokia phone – it’s a dinosaur.” Though all indications are that we may be saying the same about the Blackberry pretty soon.

While three battle for supremacy – Samsung, Blackberry and the iPhone – there’s an old cliché which says, the only place to go when you’re at the bottom is up. Nokia may like the last part of that cliché a lot better than it does the first part. BM