Although I am not a BES user, I have six email addresses tied to my BlackBerry for personal and personal business use...and although I don't absolutely
need the instantaneous push email service that my BlackBerry provides so seemlessly and reliably, like you I am totally addicted to it. Having to wait even 15-minutes for a normal email client to scan and retrieve my email seems like an eternity to me any more. Spoiled? Yes, I am...quite certainly.
Could I do without that which BlackBerry is famous for...probably, but I would really miss it for a long time.
Outages, especially for server modifications, when you are dealing with a server bank as vast and inclusive as those used by RIM are to be expected. In fact, a lot of us may experience one this weekend...but it was announced by RIM as "public" knowledge. With so many more data users jumping on the BlackBerry bandwagon, there is a need to improve and enlarge the equipment necessary to sufficiently handle that sudden growth. So, as long as I can be aware of a looming outage for those reasons...I can adjust my attitude and be OK with it.
There is no doubt to me though, that if Nokia drags it's feet and lets not only the BlackBerry Bold but also the iPhone-2 wind up in consumers hands and draw consumer monies before they introduce the E71...they are in for a real disappointment as far as total market share and consumer numbers. And...they better step up the email and messaging client to mimic as close as possible, BlackBerrys current push email service.