London rioters favour BlackBerry over Twitter

Some parts of the UK media have - predictably - pointed the finger at Twitter for fanning the London riots. And certainly photos of the chaos are spreading like wildfire through the social network.

But US business tech blog TechCrunch reckons it's in fact BlackBerry that the technology de jour amoung the troublemakers - specifically because of the smartphone's handy group-messaging function.

TechCrunch relates:

While Twitter and Facebook became the venues for public protests around public spending cuts it is the affordable BlackBerry handset and its near free BlackBerry Messenger network where group chats take place, which appears to have fuelled these riots. To communicate, BBM users have to exchange their phones’ PINs, making their messages are private, but PINs can be spread by any means – including, of course, Twitter and other social networks – but also via (still non-public) SMS.

In addition, BlackBerrys are high functioning phones but can often cost less than smartphones like Androids or iPhones, which are typically the choice of Twitter users due to the wide range of client applications. And remember, Androids and iPhones don’t run the free BBM network, and no other group messaging app has yet taken hold in the UK.

BlackBerry maker RIM has been tryiing to make a push into retail (last week RIM made its debut in Havey Norman and JB Hi-Fi here as its PlayBook tablet hit shelves), but this probably isn't the kind of publicity it envisaged.

And being the rioters' choice also runs counter to BlackBerry's famously buttoned-down, high security image (there has been some good news for the company on that font incidentally, with the news the PlayBook has received Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) certification for use by the Australian Government, setting the seen for BlackBerry to keep its grip on NZ Parliamentary Services and other government agencies too ... even if a few MPs are now totting iPhones on the side).

And as for TechCrunch's claim that BlackBerries are cheap as chips (to mix food metaphors)? Well, Vodafone NZ will sell you one for $99 iif you sign the right contract - though the TouchScreen Torch is going from $749, or $1199 off-plan.