Iza Calzado

Local celebrities often dictate the latest fashion trend with what they wear in TV shows, movies, awards nights and more. It’s often called the “showbiz craze.” And last year till the present, the latest showbiz craze is – Blackberry Messenger!

Whatever event popular local celebrities attend to or whether they’re in their normal garb during their leisure times, seen in them as their everyday accessory is a Blackberry. And the popularity of the Blackberry is not confined to big-name stars only. Young stars of today aspire for one too because they call them cool to use.

For example, rising dramatic actress Jennica Garcia who stars in GMA-7’s soap opera “Ina, Kasusuklaman Ba Kita?” wished for a Blackberry for her birthday last Dec. 26.

“I really wanted one. My mom (actress Jean Garcia) already has one and it’s so nice. It’s expensive but I wanted one. That’s why I hoped my mom would give me one on my birthday,” she said in an interview.

Jennica’s wish apparently came true as she was spotted with her Blackberry during the press conference of her latest TV series with mom Jean Garcia.

Cristine Reyes, one of the country’s sexiest and fast rising dramatic actresses, is also going “gaga” with her Blackberry. She was even overheard convincing owner of Posh Nails Catherine Ilacad to trade her N97 for a Blackberry.

“Masaya mag-Blackberry Messenger,” she explained through a text message as to why she likes her Curve 8900.

Iza Calzado, one of the country’s respected dramatic actresses and a much sought-after product endorser, is also bold in declaring her enthusiasm about her Blackberry. She also attributed to the Blackberry Messenger as its primary use.

“It’s easier to get in touch with family and friends especially those abroad,” Iza said. The actress only wished that service providers would lessen the cost of a Blackberry service added on top of their monthly mobile phone bill.

For celebrity-wielding Blackberrys, Blackberry messaging has taken over SMS. It has become even more personal since their respective Blackberry Pins (given to other Blackberry owners in order to communicate through Blackberry Messenger) is only given to people they want to communicate with. Even if other people know their respective mobile numbers, they can still get more personal with other people with their Blackberry Pin numbers.

Other celebrities using a Blackberry are Derek Ramsay, Judy Ann Santos’ leading man in “Habang May Buhay,” Rayver Cruz, Paolo Avelino, Pauleen Luna, movie producer Roselle Monteverde, GMA-7 Senior Production Manager Redgie Magno, Iwa Moto and Ruffa Gutierrez to name a few.

Other features in Blackberry are Facebook and e-mail retrieval and sending. The Blackberry’s Wi-Fi is descent as well as its camera feature which is okay in uploading mobile photos for Facebook or any social networking apps in your Blackberry.

A number of entertainment writers too have switched to using Blackberry especially with the onset of special prepaid rates from service providers.

Its writing app though doesn’t compare if you are coming from a Nokia E90 communicator. From experience, it was hard to switch from an E90 to a Blackberry particularly with the feel of using the Qwerty on a Blackberry and that of an E90. If you’re using a Mac, a Nokia E90 also seamlessly communicates well with a Mac after installing a plug-in provided by Nokia.

Nonetheless, a Blackberry’s popularity has risen in tinseltown because of its social networking feature – the BlackBerry Messenger. And the latest BlackBerry Messenger 5 has enhanced features for celebrities to enjoy more like New Group Functionality wherein they can easily create or join a group in order to stay connected and share experience in real-time; Bar-code Identity, an exciting way to invite a new contact to join your BlackBerry Messenger; Avatar to display picture as their personal avatar and Large Media Transfers wherein users of Messenger 5 can share media files up to 6MB in size including higher resolution pictures and longer voice notes.

Like the Iphone which also became a showbiz craze when it first hit the Philippines, no one knows when the BlackBerry-craze will end. Some celebrities though still have their Iphones especially for music and video playing as well as surfing via Wi-Fi because of its big screen.

But at the moment, celebrities with BlackBerrys have a new identity with their personal BlackBerry Pins!