I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of wireless e-mail or SMS. Just like Karen von Hahn in her column in Saturday’s Globe and Mail, I’ve been around people who can’t seem to put the damn things down and find it flat-out rude.

Hopefully, it’s all part of an evolutionary process. As humans, we’re constantly lagging behind technology, trying to catch up and find a way to build it into our lives without damaging the quality of that life. I’m talking essential, quality-of-life things here, folks. Stuff like making eye contact with the people with whom you’re conversing. Answering back when asked a question. Stuff like that.

The Crackberry has found a way to interrupt interpersonal relationships on a very intimate level – and that makes it more of a nuisance than a convenience at this stage in its life.

Fortunately, we can all recall times when other technologies threatened to turn us all into introverted, anti-social clods. The problem is the last great innovation that did this, the television set, has yet to release its hold on many of us (although television ratings have been declining over the past few years suggesting some people are finding something other to do than sit in front of the tube all day long).

Like all technologies, the Blackberry does provide its own little set of issues and problems. Take, for example, the case of a Morgan Stanley VP who sold his Blackberry on eBay for $15 still completely loaded with all of his contacts and e-mail information. That’s a side of “technological intimacy” no one hopes they leave exposed to the public.

And what of the Crackberry’s sordid little past?

Originally, the remote e-mail device was popular with corporate road warriors. The corporate elite were using it to keep in touch and message back and forth between meetings. As detailed in a piece on ZD Net, the tool’s manufacturer hasn’t been able to fully capitalize on the market opportunity. The opening left in the market has been quickly filled by other players and the level of “noise” in this market niche is continuing to grow.

Now the Crackberry is pushing internationally meaning the US will do what it does best with its socially-related, technology problems. We export them.

Later.

The Globe and Mail

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