Email is fun. You get messages from old friends, funny forwards, notifications of heated discussions in forums, and if you’re in Internet marketing, you also get payment notifications! It’s kinda hard to not wanna know of these things as soon as possible. I been hooked on email for as long as I can remember.
When Mobile Email Was Cutting Edge!
In 2004, when I was still studying in Arizona State University, I had a Sony Ericsson P900. That was the first phone I managed to get email delivered to. I set it up to check my email every 15 minutes. But this wasn’t a good solution for many reasons. First, setting this up wasn’t easy. Second, checking email every 15 minutes not only consumed a lot of data, but also drained the battery. It didn’t feel like a solution for the long term; just a temporary hack.
Since the Sony Ericsson P900, I’ve tried so many different mobile devices that included an array of Nokia, Palm and Windows Mobile smartphones. iPhones and Androids weren’t around back then. Through out my experiences with these devices, the problem remained the same: if you wanted to get email on your phone, you had to go through a difficult setup and worry about your data and battery. Eventually, I gave up on getting email on my phone. I just accepted having to check email on my laptop or desktop.
When BlackBerries Were For People in Business Suits Exclusively
During the period that I was checking my email on a PC, BlackBerries were probably around. But I’ve always assumed that only employees in big companies could use them because big companies bought expensive hardware that enabled the BlackBerries. For this reason, I never even considered getting one. Also, BlackBerry is only for email. I used to be a hardcore mobile phone geek. I used to hack my Windows Mobile phones and push them to the extreme. I didn’t wanna be limited to just email.
Later on, I lost interest in mobile phones and developed new interests. But my addiction to email persisted. And for a period of time it was affecting my life. I was always looking for the nearest email-enabled station to get my fix. I know, it’s lame. But you should know, I make a living online and my email keeps me updated on how much of a living I made.
My Wife Buys a BlackBerry?!
Then some day within the last two years, BlackBerries started popping up every where. Even kids had BlackBerries. I was like WTF do these kids need BlackBerries for?
Who cares…I gotta check my email.
Then recently, my wife’s friends convinced her to get a BlackBerry. She bought a BlackBerry Bold 9000, subscribed to the BlackBerry service, and immediately started getting email notifications. Wow! I didn’t know my wife could setup instant email notifications. I asked her how she did it and she showed me the idiot-proof email setup process. I was dumbfounded. A few weeks went by and I was still trying to make sense of what my wife showed me. Then a genius idea occurred to me:
I SHOULD GET A BLACKBERRY!
The Turning Point in an Email Addict’s Life
So, I bought my first BlackBerry, the Curve 8520. That was more than 3 months ago, and I still appreciate how awesome it is every day. But let me leave the awesomeness of the Curve 8520 for another blog post. Here I just wanna say that having a BlackBerry completely liberated me from being chained to a PC.
Getting my email setup on the BlackBerry was very simple. I just did what my wife did. I got my BlackBerry, subscribed to the monthly BlackBerry service, entered my email and password and voila — instant email notifications! There is nothing to it. It just works.
But the interesting thing that I realized after this is how boring my email is. I seldom get an important, breaking-news type of email that requires immediate attention.
Now when I get an email, my BlackBerry beeps, I pick it up, look at the email and think: meh, it can wait. My addiction is over.
