Remember the ‘Crackberry?’

It wasn’t that long ago that the Blackberry was everywhere.  That was the phone to have.  In looking back I think that phone change everything and even began the change in how we went from calling to texting.  They even made a term for the use of that phone… the ‘Crackberry.’

I used to say it, “Oh yeah, their on their ‘Crackberry,’ again,” in reference to some of my friends.  But it was ok they’d say it about me two minutes later when I jumped on mine.

Well what ever happened to all those Blackberrys that owned the mobile phone market only 6 short years ago.  Well along came Mr. Jobs and his iPhone!  Then Android limped in with it’s operating system and the numbers fell off for the Blackberry.

That’s not to say that the Blackberry is going to fade away but it is no where near it’s close to 50% market share that it once boasted.  Here is the current market share breakdown based on Nielson surveys. 

Some forecasters show Android will be the fast growing smartphone over the next year.  And why wouldn’t it be the next giant on the block, it’s owned by Google.  Which brings me to my next point, it’s a Google world and who can fight that?

But how does this affect us in the hotel world?  Well as things change and change fast we have to adapt.  And in order to adapt we have to pick and choose the right apps that can help our travelers find us or where they’re going.  So I say this currently there are more apps available with the Apple system and that system is probably the most user friendly so they have a leg up on things right now from that perspective.

But knowing that Android is powered by Google and it’s financial muscle it won’t be long before the gap in the number of apps available closes if not actually eclipsed by Android.  It’s a market share thing and right now the winner is Google Android.