

BlackBerry Messenger will launch on Android and iOS - zacharye
http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/03/exclusive-blackberry-messenger-will-launch-on-android-and-ios/

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olivercameron
Now it becomes all apparent why BlackBerry was so heavy handed with Kik
Messenger: <http://kik.com/blog/2010/12/a-sad-day-in-waterloo>

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terryjsmith
Agreed. The guy running Kik seems to be quite timid from what I've heard from
friends and doesn't want to burn any bridges at RIM since he interned/worked
there. What he needs to do now is get some hard evidence of this and start
screaming David and Goliath and anti-competitive motive.

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karanbhangui
I wouldn't place him as timid, he's a very smart person who's going to get
what he wants.

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terryjsmith
Yup, that sounds consistent with what I've heard, but I think he's taking the
wrong strategy. He's playing RIM's game and they can crush him in legal fees
and process; he needs to make this a PR issue and he's in a good position to
do that.

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stevefarnworth
Hmm, whilst I welcome the move, I think it's a poor decision by RIM to do it.
Seeing as most of my email is handled by Google Apps, the only real draw (and
because of friends and family members with BlackBerrys, it was a large draw)
for me to get a BlackBerry handset was BBM.

If I can seamlessly instant message friends and family across platforms with
the ease of use of BBM on a device like the HTC Desire HD, then that would be
my preferred approach.

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joaquin_win
My thoughts exactly. They're signing their death sentence.

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yellowbkpk
Maybe they realized their death sentence was already handed to them and are
trying to shift to other business models. Externalizing what they feel is
their core competency (they've had TV ads for BBM (not their phones or OS) for
months now) and trying to monetize it may be a step in that direction.

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rufo
Forgive me, for I know little in the ways of BlackBerrys, but: what's so great
about BBM? Why is it so much better then SMS/Google Voice/IM with
push/Facebook Chat that people go out of their way to purchase BlackBerry
devices?

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unexpected
There are three advantages to BBM that i love: (on blackberry devices, don't
know how they'll be on other platforms

1) BBM is essentially a text message that is free. This is handy when you're
oversees (business execs) for example. You can be in Taiwan and shoot a BBM to
your partner in SF without having to worry about some ridiculous charge.

2) Read Notification - BBM will tell you when your message has been read or
not (as opposed to text messages)

3) Group Chat - BBM does this really well - very easy to text and have
conversations with multiple people.

~~~
rufo
_You can be in Taiwan and shoot a BBM to your partner in SF without having to
worry about some ridiculous charge._

BBM uses data, right? Wouldn't there be outrageous per kilobyte charges? Or
does RIM have deals in place to get around that somehow?

~~~
pero
Data on a BB is routed through RIMs servers. BB users generally aren't charged
data if the track is intra-RIM.

It's also compressed and encrypted.

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fertel
I think this a big mistake by rim. It's one of the few reasons that users are
still on their platform. They also just gave all of their users that won't
leave for bbm a reason. Also, from the wording in the article it seems that it
will be vastly crippled (messaging only), cost money, and won't be out for
many months.

Full disclosure: launching a mobile messaging app called freespeech at SXSW.

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rfolstad
I really like the Blackberry strategy. The android application framework will
be adopted to take advantage of the large app pool. Their new OS for playbook
and phones going forward will be their proprietary qnx kernel and web browser
along with their own app store with only approved android apps.

They can control the experience and the app store to cut down on the crap apps
and provide a more seamless interface.

Rim might just turn out to be the Apple of the android world. Something both
samsung and motorola tried but imo failed miserably.

This news seems like a stepping stone in that direction.

For the people saying its a bad idea for RIM to increase the number of people
you can chat with on bbm i just dont see how this is a bad thing no matter how
u spin it. If someone i need to talk to decides to go with an iPhone or
Android phone then i might think about switching too since i can't bbm them
anymore.

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haecib
>They can control the experience and the app store to cut down on the crap
apps and provide a more seamless interface.

I wonder if you'll be able to go outside of RIM for Android apps on the
Playbook, or if they will act as a gatekeeper. Agree that gatekeeper is the
way to go.

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runjake
I'm not a huge BB user. I use an iPhone. But one of its better features was
BBM.

It was installed on every BB out of the box. No signing in, or having to worry
about launching the app or whatnot. You simply gave someone your PIN or email
address and boom! connected. Truly "zero config".

I had a BB for a short while because most of my friends at the time had a BB,
and it was "free" unlike SMS. Then they all moved to iPhones and the point was
moot.

I'm not saying its viable now, but at one time, BBM was a very slick product.
I wish Apple would do something similar with the iPhone (something slicker
than FaceTime, but with a text chat option).

~~~
olivercameron
The infrastructure is all there for Apple to do it, since you can now FaceTime
someone with an email address.

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hello_w0rld
I think the keyboard/keypad is still a major component to BBM's success.
Typing on touchscreen keyboards is just too cumbersome.

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allwein
I really think that RIM is actively trying to commit suicide. They keep
iterating internally on the Playbook without putting something out on the
market. They make developing for the Playbook natively a world of pain with a
lousy SDK and tools. They're working on supporting Android apps on the
Playbook, thus taking a doubleshot against native development. And now they're
releasing BBM on Android and iOS, thus negating any real reason to get a
Blackberry or a Playbook.

~~~
haecib
I tend to agree, but perhaps they are looking at people leaving the BBM
ecosystem for other platforms, and letting those who remain be able to keep
connected to their friends and associates that have jumped for iOS and
Android. Makes it easier for them to stay with RIM instead of following the
pack? Not sure what the thinking is there. As far as the Playbook goes, I
guess they are content just being hardware providers? Letting go of the app
ecosystem like that and the potential for subscription services down the line
seems odd.

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louhong
This shows how desperate RIM is getting. I love my BB and the BBM service (for
all the reasons below) and this a challenging business problem to solve.
They've tried to combat their loss of market share with products (ie. Torch,
Playbook) but that hasn't been doing well. They're losing enterprise customers
to Apple so the last straw is extrapolating a service that BB users love. I
sincerely hope this works but I'm not expecting that it will.

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shiftb
This feels a little like when AOL switched to providing their webmail for
free. For AOL it was a huge shift in strategy, but a necessary one.

I'm not sure I completely understand how this helps RIM much, though.

BBM is about the only I miss from my BlackBerry, and I would sign up in a
minute if it was available on my phone. Still, that doesn't make me more
inclined to buy a RIM device again.

~~~
JonLim
"I'm not sure I completely understand how this helps RIM much, though. BBM is
about the only I miss from my BlackBerry, and I would sign up in a minute if
it was available on my phone. Still, that doesn't make me more inclined to buy
a RIM device again."

I think that's the key.

Making BBM platform independent, while charging for usage, would be a great
way to shift their business model in the face of declining hardware sales.
They are getting their lunch eaten by iOS and Android, IMO, and offering BBM
is a great way of expanding their market across the board.

Will it negatively affect their hardware sales? Yes.

Will it give them a good business model moving forward? I think so.

I think it would be a very smart move, but the results will speak for
themselves.

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kin
Though most of you are probably thinking this is bad for RIM and shows how
desperate they are (they should be, Playbook vs iPad 2), I'll probably fall in
the small percentage that this actually keeps me with RIM. It sounds opposite
but I stopped using BBM because everyone moved to Android or iPhone. Now that
they have BBM, I can continue to use it and not regret being on Blackberry.

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kunle
The bigger question is - what is the blackberry vision? Yes, they've made BBM
available to a much broader base, but it doesnt seem like they're really
answering the challenges that iPhone and Android pose.

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tomlin
Kik just got kicked...again, so to speak.

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orenmazor
wow, what a terrible idea. my only blackberry wielding friends do so only
because of their BBM addiction.

