While BlackBerry Z10 possesses features that make it a close contender with top devices, brand loyalty to Apple among other companies may limit its success.

BlackBerry, “Crackberry,” or simply “The Berry”: Whatever users choose to call it, there’s no denying that the mobile device has risen from its humble origins as a 1999 email pager to become one of the world’s most popular cell phones, gaining fame through use by celebrities and talk of President Obama’s prominent “ObamaBerry.”

The BlackBerry Z10, which will be unveiled on Wednesday, promises features that will allow it to compete with Apple’s and Samsung’s top devices in what many believe will be a last opportunity for Research In Motion (RIM), the developer of BlackBerry, to maintain a hold on its share of the mobile phone market. Despite this, a Jan. 6 Business Insider article said the Z10 possesses only a “modest chance at success” due to the fact that most users are already content with Android and iOS, which have “rich content and app ecosystems people want.”

Junior Joshua Chang said he purchased his BlackBerry before Apple and other companies dominated the mobile phone market.

“When I got the BlackBerry, Apple only had the (iPhone), which was very expensive and didn’t do much. Android was still in Beta. I had one good phone in reach, so I used it,” he said. To this day I feel like there is no point in changing to a more powerful phone because of a powerful computer is more valuable in my style of using electronics.”

Senior Rachel Morrolf said she believes that the Z10 will not experience much success at this school.

She recently got the iPhone 5, she said, the latest device in her five-year history with Apple products. She said she would not consider getting a BlackBerry due to the fact that she is a faithful Apple consumer.

“I love my phone,” she said.

According to Morrolf, the established popularity of other companies will be problematic for RIM.

“I don’t think it will be very successful because so many (students) are hooked on iPhones, their parents won’t let them get it for whatever reason, or they are already in a contract,” she said. “I think that Apple and Samsung have built a trust with a ton of people that Blackberry hasn’t.”

Jill Noel, business teacher and iPhone owner, said this brand loyalty to other companies can have unfavorable outcomes for consumers.

“People just buy an Apple iPhone or any other Apple product just because that’s what everybody else buys,” she said.

Noel said she regrets buying an iPhone without doing prior research on it and does not intend to purchase another one.

“It’s very slow and I just don’t like it. I want to get something with a bigger screen. I wish I would have researched it,” she said.  “I think (brand loyalty) is a problem for the consumer, for the individual because they just assume, ‘Oh, everybody has an Apple and I know that that’s what I want,’ … (consumers) might be getting something that their friends like, but it’s something they didn’t like because they just didn’t research it.”

Chang said he believes this brand loyalty along with lack of advertising will limit the Z10’s success, particularly at this school, where a significant portion of the student body already owns similar products by more popular manufacturers.

“I think most students don’t even know about the Z10,” he said. “BlackBerry is designed more for enterprise use than consumer use. It looks like RIM is trying to get some new users, but because of the lack of advertisement, there won’t be many students that will get the BlackBerry.”