[Meshdow]

This is a serious idiotic decision. Another great reason to not promote BBM. Sadly, snapchat is free and people will not head to BBM to have a great replacement.

I honestly think they are mistaken by targeting enterprises only. They seem to think that business people do not have a personal life outside of work and they absolutely need two phones.

Posted via CB10

[redcubicle]

I have no issue paying for these features.

Posted via CB10

[KermEd]

The bigger stupid decision is to nickel and dime everything. It isn't a video game with inapp for credits - although the smileys are slowing getting it there.

If it was one flat yearly fee to unlock and go adfree with everything - including those stupid stickers. Then maybe, a bbm pro, would be OK. But at this rate we are going to be paying 99c/m for chats, 99c/m for group chats, 99c/m for using emoticons, 99c/m for typing the letters bbm... I hate inapp purchase circles. Maybe it IS time for me to go to whatsapp more

Posted to CB via my Passport | FileArchiveHaven

[passport1]

+1

Posted via CB10

I too felt it was very annoying. But actually, the placement of the timer icon is the issue not the feature itself.


Posted via CB10

[Priyabrata Chakraverti]

I'm not trying to be rude but your loyalty (and mine of course) mean precisely nothing to BlackBerry as far as running a profitable business is concerned - if they make any profits from the likes of us buying hardware, it'll be small.

They've made it quite clear what their strategy is to become profitable again, and it's not focused on individual users asking them to make their software better, and to do it for nothing.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/blackber...fit-1427455450

BlackBerry don't care about your friends on WhatsApp - they are just as unprofitable as the rest of us.

Their niche is secure, high quality hardware and software supported by people willing to pay for it.

Android and iOS are aiming for something different. The question is, why aren't you using one if those two instead? Genuinely want to know.

I am using BlackBerry for the hardware keyboard to be very honest. I am a communication oriented person and I prefer to have a physical qwerty than a virtual one. - to answer your question.

As for android and ios, I do not wish to compare the os as in case of android, they are mass marketed and used by many phones unlike BlackBerry and ios which are used by their own hardware only.

The comparison comes where their business strategy is involved. Both ios and BlackBerry always price their device sky high(initially) viz. Q5 was priced somewhere above 30K in India when it was launched and I later purchased it for 14K.
So they came down by this much!

Despite this, I went for BlackBerry due to the qwerty factor.
After ridiculous pricing, (as if that was not sufficient), they ridiculously make software features payable even when there are free replacements available, which according to audits are secure as well! So unless BlackBerry can come up with something which proves that their messaging is more secure than snapchat, I really don't see what they are doing even if they are aiming the corporate bunch!

And the point of importance is, people are not using Bbm despite the fact it is available for ios/droid! So it's not actually who is on which os! It's rather a choice which people have in terms of other services and Bbm is getting beaten black and blue by whatsapp and co!

Posted via CB10 From Q5

[BB_makes_it_happen]

I will gladly let my carrier charge me 0.99$ per month for BBM - and thus would anticipate this App to continue to grow and develop. I should not expect BlackBerry to develop the App - at their cost. I'm not interested in seeing adverts while BBMing people.

Posted via CB10

[mrsean2k]

@bb_makes_it_happen one of my first actions when considering whether or not to use a new app or service is "how do I pay for it?"

I'm also not interested in anything that's supported by advertising or selling my details on (unless it's some throwaway thing)

[Thor1972]

The word "Disappointing" revers to a personal opinion. Based on personal needs or expectations and not on factual results of the decision. Therefore this discussion is irrelevant...

Posted via CB10

[teostar]

Many of us BBM users have no use for message retraction. My preference would be to have the choice removed for all but those who want the function. Those wanting retraction can pay while the rest of us get a less cluttered experience.

C000C6078 Bits for links to world news and views, technology and science postings.

This ^

Posted via CB10

[Priyabrata Chakraverti]

This ^

Posted via CB10

Can you explain how message retraction is cluttering your Bbm experience?


Posted via CB10 From Q5

[mrsean2k]

@pri

I also initially found my way to BlackBerry because it was the only player left making a phone with a decent hardware keyboard, but came to appreciate it for its other advantages from there.

Most people, apparently, just don't care enough for hardware keyboards to pay any extra or sacrifice screen space, so there is no competition and volumes are relatively low so impacting cost. People preferring larger screens and soft keyboards over hardware keyboards are tasteless maniacs as we know, but we're stuck with it.

This wasn't always the case, but like it or not, we are now tourists in enterprise land under BlackBerry's current strategy, and I haven't read any decent argument for making more features free to users across the board - they simply aren't vying for the business of individuals.

As it stands, I was able to buy a Q10 at an affordable price, and it seemingly comes with free, secure instant messaging for life. I can only do this as a result of people paying for different levels of service.

[fschmeck]

The bigger stupid decision is to nickel and dime everything. It isn't a video game with inapp for credits - although the smileys are slowing getting it there.

Agreed. I have no problem paying a small fee for an extended feature set, but a subscription for features others offer for free?

I realize they have to make money, and I also realize that WhatsApp and others may have looser privacy policies to pay for their services, but I can't see how this will generate revenue or increase the user base. Look around at other companies that have over used in-app purchases: EA comes to mind. It ended up hurting their brand more than helping, and they had to dial it back.

When I try to get friends to use BBM, they always ask "what does it offer"? And I have little to answer. Get some cross-platform video chat working, make screen sharing a pivotal feature, and charge for BBM meetings and maybe encryption and leave the consumer features there, for free. Seems to me the more people using it in the consumer space, the more these same folks will bring it into the workspace.

[teostar]

Can you explain how message retraction is cluttering your Bbm experience?


Posted via CB10 From Q5

Wasn't speaking specifically to retraction, all these new gimmicks (stickers, the shop's constant notification of something "new" even after I checked and cleared it, it pops up a new notification when I reopen the app. New contacts from my phone that I can't turn off none of whom still use BBM).

I couldn't care less for the subscription stuff. I prefer the early version of BBM on BB10. All most of us want is simple messaging +voice+ video. Maybe they should have 2 versions, that simple lite version and a pay 1 time pro version.

Posted via CB10

[bobshine]

I am wondering what is the big idea of depriving the BlackBerry users from a feature of Bbm which may not be of frequent use, but is definitely useful!

The people who are supporting BlackBerry by using their device should get better treatment from the company in my opinion.

They could have put this subscription thing on non-bb users (apple, droid, windows) and kept the BlackBerry users in the loop!

Really a poor decision and I am totally unhappy about this!

Posted via CB10 From Q5

I thought it was known when it was introduced

Posted via CB10

[bobshine]

Ok, so with the way things stack up, if Bbm lose it's already less user base, that will help BlackBerry??

I merely have 3 friends of mine @bbm while 50+ in whatsapp! This is even after Bbm is available in droid and ios! It's really not hard to see what's in store for the future if the company doesn't make the right moves!

Posted via CB10 From Q5

How many of those 50 friends on whatsapp have message retraction?

Posted via CB10

[KermEd]

EA comes to mind. It ended up hurting their brand more than helping, and they had to dial it back.

When I try to get friends to use BBM, they always ask "what does it offer"? And I have little to answer.

I fully agree on both points. Bbm is unsellable in its current state on other platforms in my opinion. Any attempt to over monetize will just continue to hurt the userbase and reverse adoption.

Maybe they are trying to get as much as they can before shutting it down...

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[KermEd]

How many of those 50 friends on whatsapp have message retraction?

Posted via CB10

I think the much more important moral to that story is that they don't consider any bbm feature important enough to switch from whatsapp. Add in that after everything BlackBerry has done and built into their messenger - this is the feature they absolutely must to monetize!

Seriously, supply and demand being what it is. They might as well just give up if this is now the height of their bbm brilliance. Timed messages and retraction are useless anyway. Thanks to screenshots


Posted to CB via my Passport | FileArchiveHaven

[canadian nick]

I wouldn't mind paying for the features if it was a one time fee but I don't like the idea of monthly billing. (maybe it's just me) also I don't like the idea of ads on BlackBerry devices. (again maybe it's just me)

Posted via CB10

[idees]

This subscription sucks, definitely. I mean 0,89�/month? Seriously?
If blackberry wanna money, should bring an one way payment for these two feature. Two, three, four euros, I don't know. But it must be a Lump sum payment, or she won't Make money at all.

Posted via CB10

[iamrauu]

The good news for those who use it.. non-subscribers will only be limited to a max of 3 timed/retracted (not completely gone). Also, not sure if this mean per chat or overall. So they still can make money off subscriptions..

For those who don't like it (and didn't know) it can be disabled in settings.

Posted via CB10