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The best smartphone I've ever had, in the context of its era, was my mid 2000s BlackBerry. I'll tell you why in two words: It worked. It was what the old nomenclature promised it would be: my Personal Digital Assistant. And just like any good employee that you can rely upon, I grew very fond of it.

When I needed email, it was there, and when I needed to type out a long message, I could. When I needed to make a phone call (hello, iPhone?) it made a clear one. When I needed to browse the web, it was much more likely to work. Surrounding that timespan, I tried other mobile solutions. I had a Windows phone before, I had an iOS device (the Touch) during, and I had a phone in which I primarily used the Opera Mini browser. (I was going to grad school at the time and needed to cut costs.)

Earlier in September, I drove to the store to rehire my old assistant, dressed in new a BlackBerry suit. Reading the news this morning about BlackBerry's maker renders that notion a little silly now. As Reuters reported:

Research In Motion is losing market share much faster than expected to rivals Apple and Google, amid mounting concerns over its cash flow and ability to meet its outlook, analysts warned.

There's little mystery why this is happening.

"Why?" one of my bright college students asked me when I told him I was headed to buy a new BlackBerry the next day.

"Because it works," I said.

"My iPhone works," he replied. "It works way better than my BlackBerry did. BlackBerry is way too limited."

When I arrived that Saturday, I realized I should at least interview other candidates. But when I picked up the BlackBerry — the newer version of the model I once had — it brought back warm memories. BlackBerry revolutionized the way we use phones because of its uncanny ability to help when you needed it the most. As a reporter, my mobile connection was vital. When I got my first BlackBerry, it was the first time I felt safe that connectivity was completely in pocket.

But when you're playing with technology, nostalgia doesn't sell. For phone plan reasons, the iPhone was no-go, but I drifted over to the Android selections and it was immediately clear why it was better. I admit it, the difference was apps. I say "admit" because I argued with the student that apps were a diversion more than a necessity. For someone who currently has an iPad (my wife's), a Nook, a television with XBox and a laptop, I really don't need another device to entertain me. I need something that knows how to work.

I also think apps are unnecessary silo-ing of functionality and will eventually drift away in favor of more integrated solutions, perhaps thanks to HTML5 or perhaps via a more intuitive OS. But, for now, the apps sucked me in. Not Angry Birds, but, there's a secondary level of functionality I could not have imagined even five years ago — abilities to rapidly exchange business information, QR retrieval, quick access to oft-used information, even smaller things like good timers (for class), a police scanner app, etc. Android's access to that level of functionality is fluid and vibrant. Fair or unfair, once you compare the endless expansion of your phone's capabilities, BlackBerry loses its luster. And if today's news is a sharp peel of the bell that tolls for Research in Motion (at least as a broad consumer product), this very well could read like a classic tragedy. A once great visionary lost its sight.

Earlier in September, PhoneArena put it in context:

Amid complaints of too sparse a selection of downloads to choose from and long load times for apps in past builds of its online application store, RIM has started pushing out BlackBerry AppWorld 3.0 on Tuesday, replacing the beta version for long-suffering BlackBerry users, who will now enjoy a revised UI and faster loading apps. Finding specific apps is much quicker with the new design while rotating banners call your attention to what is new in AppWorld.

But one of the commenters quickly laid out the problem.

"call me when you have access to android market via bb world. no apps= failure. that is why nobody wants a bb."

It's an idea that many people have mentioned. Business Insider's John Brandon, in fact, now sounds downright prescient when you read his post from more than a year ago.

So it's time for RIM to make a difficult, but important move: Stop wasting time developing its own operating system and apps platform, and switch the BlackBerry to Android, which is booming with success. The sooner, the better, before it's too late.

RIM chose not to. And I left the store with an Android-based phone in tow, feeling a little like the narrator in "Bartleby the Scrivener." Maybe I'm guilty of shallowness and disloyalty. Or maybe BlackBerry said, "I choose not to," one too many times.