As MBA students, you shall probably NEED smart phones during MBA to function efficiently! There, I said it! (Laptops are a MUST - that goes without saying, anyways)

How are you doing today? How is your MBA application coming along, so far? This post is a repost from my MBA blog at www.gerry.in :

I was wondering about the importance of Smart Phones in the lives of MBA students. And as is usual,  I did an online search for the topic to see if there is anything about the topic already there. And I did find an interesting post by another MBA student from Texas.

See, how we MBA students think and feel alike ? :) ---> If I seem a bit prudish about being an MBA student, damn right, I am! It took me a lot of hard work to get into an MBA program and it is a lot of hard work going through the MBA process. And it will take a lot of hard work to complete this MBA (only few more months left) and graduate, LOL. This MBA is being as painful as it is being pleasurable, ha ha :) This is one of those pleasurable pains, LOL. Ok, I was just kidding!

Here is that post:
http://blogs.mccombs.utexas.edu/mba-students/2011/09/05/to-smart-or-not-to-smart/

Smart phones are incredibly useful for MBA students. They are not (just) status symbols, but everyday necessities that modern executives (that MBAs shall perhaps naturally progress to, someday) need. As a proud Canadian, guess which Canadian brand I endorse & use? You guessed it, a BlackBerry. I love my BlackBerry (No, I am NOT an Apple fan and I do not use any Apple products - none, nada, zero. No, its not a boycott, its just that I never got started on that path - ever. And hence, did not pursue that path).

So, what do I use my darling Blackberry for? Here you go:

• Calendar - An MBA student can not survive without an online calendar.
• Facebook - to stay current with posts on my MBA Class group
• Twitter - An occasional tweet to reach out to any intelligent person that I come across - and I LOVE intelligent people. I wish I was friends with ALL the intelligent people on this planet :)
• Emails (from at least 5 email accounts of mine) - University emails - a lot of them are useful and a lot are not, he he :) . Personal emails from family and friends. And most importantly, MBA team / group work emails - to keep connected with group assignments - and I have mentioned in the past - MBA students have a LOT of group activity - helps in team building exercises and learn skills of leadership / team effort etc
• LinkedIn - to respond to requests or check the updates (via email).
• Temperature - Canada is a country where it can get realllly cold. Hell yeah! Only yesterday night, the temperature was - 15 deg C (kin ya frikkin' believe that, huh!). Every time I need to go out and need to get dressed for the outing - I NEED to know what temperature it is outside and I need to dress accordingly. I use a free App for that.
• TTC bus timings - There is an App to help know the timings of TTC (Toronto Transit) buses. No need to worry about the subway - there is one every 5 minutes. God, I love our TTC subways. God bless TTC. And I defend TTC aggressively, every time some one says anything against MY TTC.
• SMS - Text messaging is staple to reach out to classmates in various situations.
• Camera - to take pictures of interesting things that help for presentations. Can even email them or post on Twitter / FB.
• Video recorder - can be useful to record class presentations.
• Address book - what would one do without the email directory -- the Blackberry does it automatically - scans all my email accounts and makes a list automatically.
• Phone calls - And of course, good old phone calls.
• Tungle - Another online calendar
• Alarm - to wake you up for classes :)
• Reminders - to remind you of assignments :)
• WhatsApp - Free app to connect to people across different smartphone platforms
• Maps - for times when you are in uncertain parts of town and need to find your way.
• Internet - Online access to info. I use Google news once in a while. Watch YouTube videos once in a while. Surf for some urgent info when you have a brain wave or a thought / idea. Does this happpen to you? I'm sure it does :)
• Blackberry Messenger - An inexpensive way to keep in touch with other Blackberry users.
• Other Free Apps - like World clock
• Games - I am not fond of games - that is just me. They are a waste of time. I have better things to do - like learn MBA topics, for example :)
• More - I must have missed out a few more points - will add when I can recall 'em!

So, there, Smart phones make the lives of MBA students much easier :)

Would I switch from my Blackberry to an Android phone? Who knows? Perhaps, some day. But as it stands now, I am loyal to the BlackBerry brand. Been a Blackberry addict since 2006 and LOVE it. And oh, my service provider is Wind Mobile and I am extremely happy with the service of Wind Mobile Canada (I don't care what people say about Wind. I am loyal to the brands I endorse, ha ha :)

Cheers!

Gerry Som.
Blogger @ www.gerry.in