[roleli]

Phone-number registration is coming to BBM although it seems it will be for iOS and Android only for now. This announcement seems to have been lost in all the other noise about Blackberry this week

Phone-number registration has consistently been at the top of the customer request list. This new feature will allow iOS and Android users to create a BBM account with a phone number instead of an email address. This streamlines the sign-up process significantly and provides a more reliable way to secure your contact network. It also creates a more reliable method for resetting forgotten passwords, as people are moving toward having a single phone number and keeping it longer than they keep their email addresses.

PINS are not going away. Blackberry says

Don�t worry: we�re not doing away with PINs or Custom PINs. We�re simply adding another option for added flexibility, giving people more than one way to sign up.

Now this is going to be make some upset who stuck with BBM because they did not want anyone with their phone number to up and be a Whatsapp contact (although you can ignore the requests). This is good for BBM as it will make it easier for persons start using it again.

It will be interesting to hear what others think.

Source: BBM Video Beta Brings iPhone and Android Cross-Platform Video Calling to Asia-Pacific | Inside BlackBerry

[David Tyler]

Now this is going to be make some upset who stuck with BBM because they did not want anyone with their phone number to up and be a Whatsapp contact (although you can ignore the requests). This is good for BBM as it will make it easier for persons start using it again.

It shouldn't make anyone "upset," because you don't _have_ to use phone number registration; and even if you choose to, I doubt they'll set up BBM to raid your contacts list a la WhatsApp.

The main reason BlackBerry is doing this, I'm given to understand, isn't to "make it easier" -- connecting with BBM is pretty easy as-is. This feature is rolling out in the Asia-Pacific region because there are a lot of mobile phone users there with no email -- _that's_ what makes registering with BBM "hard" (impossible).



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[Loc22]

It shouldn't make anyone "upset," because you don't _have_ to use phone number registration; and even if you choose to, I doubt they'll set up BBM to raid your contacts list a la WhatsApp.

The main reason BlackBerry is doing this, I'm given to understand, isn't to "make it easier" -- connecting with BBM is pretty easy as-is. This feature is rolling out in the Asia-Pacific region because there are a lot of mobile phone users there with no email -- _that's_ what makes registering with BBM "hard" (impossible).



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David I'm afraid that you are completely wrong. Let's ask you how many emails do you have?

Well personally I have 4 emails. All my contacts only have one of my 4 different emails because they are used for different purposes. Eg. Business contacts will have my business emails and my friends & Family will have my private email address. The other 2 are for spam use so I use them to register most anything I want and they will definitely always spam me there. O wouldn't care as I don't open those emails anyway.

So if I were to use my business email address to register my BBM ID, my family & Friends will not be able to find me on their BBM. Alternatively if I were to use my personal email address to register my BBM ID then my business contacts will not be able to locate me.

This I feel really defeat the purpose of having a chat app. Yes, you can always say that I can email them to ask them to add me but really? ? ? Don't you think it is a bit too much work to do? To be honest I have sent over 200 emails to all my business contacts and I have a total of ZERO response from them to add me. I know some of them also use a BlackBerry phone but there is just no response from my request. They will always just WhatsApp me when they need something.

So I think if we use phone number to contact each other it would be more practical.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[David Tyler]

. David I'm afraid that you are completely wrong. Let's ask you how many emails do you have?

<eyeball roll> Several. So..?

So if I were to use my business email address to register my BBM ID, my family & Friends will not be able to find me on their BBM. Alternatively if I were to use my personal email address to register my BBM ID then my business contacts will not be able to locate me.

Send... them... --wait for it -- your PIN. Using any one of several means. Try as you might, you just CAN'T make this HARD..!!



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[Loc22]

<eyeball roll> Several. So..?



Send... them... --wait for it -- your PIN. Using any one of several means. Try as you might, you just CAN'T make this HARD..!!

!

This is already considered too difficult to add someone.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[David Tyler]

This is already considered too difficult to add someone.

I'm sure there are some people -- those young enough still be in diapers, for example -- who actually DO find connecting on BBM "too difficult."

Be serious. You send someone your PIN, by SMS or email, say. They press the PIN. Done and done. You can declare that to be "too difficult;" and maybe in some parallel universe inhabited only by fruit trees, it is -- but here, it's just not.

Passport SE: All the snooty prestige of a device with a precious metal in the name at less than half the price!

[Loc22]

I'm sure there are some people -- those young enough still be in diapers, for example -- who actually DO find connecting on BBM "too difficult."

Be serious. You send someone your PIN, by SMS or email, say. They press the PIN. Done and done. You can declare that to be "too difficult;" and maybe in some parallel universe inhabited only by fruit trees, it is -- but here, it's just not.

Passport SE: All the snooty prestige of a device with a precious metal in the name at less than half the price!

Maybe that's why BBM has so little users.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[David Tyler]

Maybe that's why BBM has so little users.

Relatively speaking, you mean. 190 million+ is not a small number.

Also, BBM users are more loyal than users of WhatsApp and other messaging apps: http://blogs.blackberry.com/2015/04/...t-and-twitter/

Male of that what you will, but I'd argue there are more than a few people not currently whining about how mentally demanding it is to send someone a PIN -- or who consider the added privacy of _not_ using their phone numbers to connect to be worth the, uhhh, intellectually taxing effort.

But look, anyone who has read your posts knows of your deep and abiding love for WhatsApp. Why not post in a WhatsApp forum instead of always gnashing your metaphorical teeth here about how boo hoo hoo so HARD to use BBM?



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[Loc22]

Relatively speaking, you mean. 190 million+ is not a small number.

Also, BBM users are more loyal than users of WhatsApp and other messaging apps: http://blogs.blackberry.com/2015/04/...t-and-twitter/

Male of that what you will, but I'd argue there are more than a few people not currently whining about how mentally demanding it is to send someone a PIN -- or who consider the added privacy of _not_ using their phone numbers to connect to be worth the, uhhh, intellectually taxing effort.

But look, anyone who has read your posts knows of your deep and abiding love for WhatsApp. Why not post in a WhatsApp forum instead of always gnashing your metaphorical teeth here about how boo hoo hoo so HARD to use BBM?



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I really don't know how to describe this but coz those people who keep insisting that only using a PIN is easy enough and good enough for BBM probably never asked anyone to use BBM before. Otherwise they must be trolls who just want to see the ultimate demise of BBM.

The figures speak for themselves. Over 1 Billion people prefer to just use a phone number as compared to 190 million people who only use a PIN and a good number out of this 190 million is asking for an alternative.

The other thing is that BBM subscribers was 190 million since the launch of cross platform BBM. It has not grown much since then. Surely this indicate something.

Then you will understand that using phone number is the only way to ensure the survival of BBM.

If you really look at it there is no additional privacy for a user if BBM were to use a PIN as compared to using a phone number. Anyone who has your email address will be able to contact you via email or BBM. So maybe you can stop blinding yourself with self imposed security and smell the coffee.

Come to think of it I'm really curious if you actually exchange business cards with people in networking sessions or you just frown at everyone when you go to a business event. If you do I just wonder what is really written on your business card, does it have a phone number on it or it just have your name and your company's name on it and nothing else.

What use is a chat app when nobody uses it? What use is a social network app when nobody use it?

What use is a telephone when nobody knows your phone number?

On the other hand you truly do not know me. If you do then you will feel how everyone I know keep labeling me as a BBM fanboy. I hate that lable and I hate to use WhatsApp.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[David Tyler]

I really don't know how to describe this but coz those people who keep insisting that only using a PIN is easy enough and good enough for BBM probably never asked anyone to use BBM before.

I've asked dozens of people to use BBM. With one exception -- ONE -- they've all found it easy to use and are still actively using it.

Regardless of how you or I feel about it, you can use a phone number to register on BBM; so what good would it do me to "troll" for "the ultimate demise of BBM >snort!<

Then you will understand that using phone number is the only way to ensure the survival of BBM.

Then you must feel better now.

If you really look at it there is no additional privacy for a user if BBM were to use a PIN as compared to using a phone number.

Except... they don't have my phone number. An email, especially one set just for junk mail and as a spam repository, is trivial to ditch and replace. Phone number? Not so much.

Come to think of it I'm really curious if you actually exchange business cards with people in networking sessions or you just frown at everyone when you go to a business event.

Those would be people I _want_ to have one of my numbers. With BBM, I have a _choice_.

But none of that is the point, is it? You keep declaring that use of a PIN is too hard for your friends to figure out, from which you are trying to argue that the PIN concept is "too hard," period, for everyone, an inherently flawed concept. I disagree. While "too hard" is subjective, two simple steps, one for each party connecting, is hard to credibly characterize as "too hard."

On the other hand you truly do not know me. If you do then you will feel how everyone I know keep labeling me as a BBM fanboy. I hate that lable and I hate to use WhatsApp.

Sure. That seems, ummm, obvious.



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