One friend even took a photo of it because he couldn’t believe how anything could get so battered.

But see, I am proud of my battle-scarred device (left) and I don’t care that people tell me it’s not a smartphone, it’s only a feature phone – the point is, its features work for me.

Okay, it’s a completely different experience from the iPhone 5 which I recently succumbed to – but that doesn’t negate the value of my BB and my relationship with it. Point is, I am sentimental about my BB and I do not like the way everyone seems to be writing them off before they’ve even seen the new Blackberry 10s.

Which is why I was pleased that during the recent launch of its two new smartphones, CEO Thorsten Heins chose to highlight the BB’s special relationship with women and named superstar singer Alicia Keys as the company’s global creative director.

Apparently, 56% of Blackberry’s 80 million global customers are women.

And, according to this article in Mashable, when the company was working on BlackBerry 10, its marketing team set out to identify the segment it most wanted to focus on, and ran down a list of traits: people of action, achievers, multi-taskers, people who are very connected and “want a tool more than a toy.”

In the end, chief marketing officer Frank Boulben says the team found these traits tended to be “slightly more skewed to women than men”. And the company may introduce more apps and accessories that are geared towards women.

Keys is apparently the embodiment of a “very typical BlackBerry user” who is a “working mom” and runs a small business.

While I certainly don’t see myself as Keys-like, well, I do run a small business, I work from home, I am on the road a lot and the Blackberry is just such a handy road warrior companion. Its data roaming charges do not kill you for sure.

And I like the idea that women may yet save the Blackberry.

Anyway, I read this article with particular interest because I am working on our second WITX event – Women As Customers – set for Bangkok at the So Sofitel on April 26.

If women are responsible for 75% of leisure travel decisions, dominate the social web, rule e-commerce and are becoming increasingly mobile, affluent and adventurous in their travels, it stands to reason we need to understand what drives them and what makes them tick.

So the agenda will focus on understanding and delighting women as customers and we will have experts, both male and female, share insights on women behaviour on the digital, social and mobile web.

We’ve confirmed some speakers already and are working on more – so stay tuned. Meantime, save the date.

And yes, I intend to hold onto my battered Blackberry for as long as it shall live – unless of course I get my hands on the new Blackberry 10 first.