Alexa

Sprog has been nagging me for either of those. Now, sprog is 13 years old, so I think those gadgets are totally out of the question. Besides, he has lost 2 Mobiles already. Thing is, he is telling me that 80% of his classmates have iPhones or Blackberries. Apparently this is normal.
For me it is not, period.

What is the general opinion on this? Quite a few people have told me that they think it is perfectly normal for kids to have gadgets like those.
I am aware that this may be an Expat thing, but..we ARE Expats....so, what do you think?

al dente

It's not just here it's also back in the UK. When, my half sister calmly told me that her year at school were a 'blackberry year not an Iphone 4 year', I had to stop my eyebrows from shooting off my forehead entirely! They prefer it for BBM, which is free, I believe.

Times, they are a-changin'

Blue Cat

mine is 6, we compromised, she has a shitty nokia and an ipod touch

Oyibopeppeh

If it's of any value....

I previously had a company owned BB. I'm long-sighted (meaning I don't read small letters very well close up) and had difficulty typing in more than the most basic of emails in less than 10 minutes.

The iPhone, on the contrary, I find so much more user friendly as a result of the bigger, better laid out virtual keypad. The iPhone is also much more useful for downloading attachments and being able to read them with the easy zoom facility.

BB 2/5
iP 4/5

nottmbantam

I don't think it's an expat thing - the school my step daughter was at, was awash with BB's, and yes, the BBM is the main reason why. Although there is a monthly subscription costs, all messages to other BB's are totally free - anywhere in the world. BB's seem to be VERY popular with the Saudi teenage girls.

iPhone 5 is out next summer, the 'antennagate' fiasco with iPhone 4 seems to be a millstone.

Fairydust

My 13 yr old has both We bought her the Iphone last xmas and then she wanted the BB for her b/day in June as all her friends had them. Must admit the BB works out much cheaper with the BBM option though - she just switches the sim cards over when she fancies a change

Blue Cat

whatsapp is available for iphone and BB, messenger service