1. webber35's Avatar
    I love BBM I think it's by far the best messenger out there. But ask yourself this, what's the use of having BBM if you can't even use it. Wouldn't you like to be able to BBM everyone you know?..or at least have the option. I haven't even been able to try the new video chat cause everyone I know has moved on to another platform. Even if 1/3 of my 300 contacts switched back to bb I would still have 200 ppl that I couldn't use BBM with. Those of you saying that BlackBerry needs BBM for a feature or incentive to bring ppl back as a selling point , think about this, consumers actively chose to leave BlackBerry knowing they would lose the awesome BBM experience. So conversely you shouldn't expect to win them back with BBM as a focal point either. Go cross platform! Spread the love, spread the BlackBerry experience
    Amen. No one to use BBM with

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-13 06:01 AM
  2. smoothrunnings's Avatar
    Is it in the plan though? Somehow I have the impression that BBRY is Ok to release BBM to other platforms now.
    BBM is BBRYs bread an butter to their own devices. Why would they release it for other devices and risk losing billions in sales over their own?
    03-04-13 06:26 AM
  3. lawguyman's Avatar
    BBM is BBRYs bread an butter to their own devices. Why would they release it for other devices and risk losing billions in sales over their own?
    Would you buy a phone that only let you call 20% of the people you know? Probably not. This is why cross - platform messaging apps are popular. Bb should not be afraid to go cross - platform. Platform specific messaging apps are going the way of the dodo. BlackBerry should look at taking BBM cross platform as an opportunity not a threat.

    Posted via CB10
    kbz1960 and leejayh like this.
    03-04-13 06:55 AM
  4. belfastdispatcher's Avatar
    Would you buy a phone that only let you call 20% of the people you know? Probably not. This is why cross - platform messaging apps are popular. Bb should not be afraid to go cross - platform. Platform specific messaging apps are going the way of the dodo. BlackBerry should look at taking BBM cross platform as an opportunity not a threat.

    Posted via CB10
    Not really, you don't have to have everybody on bbm to make it worthwhile, most people, including myself, treat it as an exclusive club. I would absolutely hate it it all of the sudden everybody would be on my bbm. You wouldn't want to have everybody in your address book on your Facebook or Twitter, it's the same thing.

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-13 07:55 AM
  5. Tre Lawrence's Avatar
    BBM is BBRYs bread an butter to their own devices. Why would they release it for other devices and risk losing billions in sales over their own?
    Again, this assumes that BBM is responsible for selling billions worth of devices in and of itself. It could be, but I doubt it.
    killerberries likes this.
    03-04-13 07:57 AM
  6. ubizmo's Avatar
    Not really, you don't have to have everybody on bbm to make it worthwhile, most people, including myself, treat it as an exclusive club. I would absolutely hate it it all of the sudden everybody would be on my bbm. You wouldn't want to have everybody in your address book on your Facebook or Twitter, it's the same thing.
    I don't think this analogy really works. It not as though everyone on BBM becomes a BBM contact for you or anyone else.. You may think of BBM as an exclusive club, but I honestly don't see how this is a useful strategy for BBRY.

    When BBM was the only thing of its kind--an always-on messaging system that isn't SMS--it made sense to think of it as something that is distinctively BB. That era is over. There are other options that are cross-platform, and they're getting better all the time. BBM may still be the "best" in some respects, and if they can maintain that perception they should be able to monetize it by making it a paid or subscription app on other platforms. Keeping it free on BBs will continue to provide an incentive to own BB devices. And of course, restricting the premium BBM services, voice and video, to BB only, adds to that incentive.

    You don't succeed by excluding; you succeed by being the best.
    j1m0h likes this.
    03-04-13 08:17 AM
  7. belfastdispatcher's Avatar
    I don't think this analogy really works. It not as though everyone on BBM becomes a BBM contact for you or anyone else.. You may think of BBM as an exclusive club, but I honestly don't see how this is a useful strategy for BBRY.

    When BBM was the only thing of its kind--an always-on messaging system that isn't SMS--it made sense to think of it as something that is distinctively BB. That era is over. There are other options that are cross-platform, and they're getting better all the time. BBM may still be the "best" in some respects, and if they can maintain that perception they should be able to monetize it by making it a paid or subscription app on other platforms. Keeping it free on BBs will continue to provide an incentive to own BB devices. And of course, restricting the premium BBM services, voice and video, to BB only, adds to that incentive.

    You don't succeed by excluding; you succeed by being the best.
    The problem is nobody will pay for it. This argument is doa, they can't win either way.

    And they can't give it away for free, it makes no financial sense.

    Bbm is no longer perceived as an instant messenger, it's a social network now

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-13 08:26 AM
  8. lawguyman's Avatar
    How can it be worth anything if no one will pay for it?

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-13 08:32 AM
  9. ubizmo's Avatar
    The problem is nobody will pay for it. This argument is doa, they can't win either way.
    WhatsApp charges a subscription fee, and people are paying it, apparently. Since WhatsApp isn't adware, this is their only revenue stream. If BBM is good enough to compete, and the price is reasonable, people will pay.
    03-04-13 08:33 AM
  10. Skeevecr's Avatar
    You don't succeed by excluding; you succeed by being the best.
    Apple would like to disagree with that statement.
    BB_Bmore likes this.
    03-04-13 08:33 AM
  11. afinebalance's Avatar
    How recently is recently?
    Last Friday

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-13 08:38 AM
  12. belfastdispatcher's Avatar
    WhatsApp charges a subscription fee, and people are paying it, apparently. Since WhatsApp isn't adware, this is their only revenue stream. If BBM is good enough to compete, and the price is reasonable, people will pay.
    As far as we know that is, we don't know what data they take and how they monetize it.

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-13 08:41 AM
  13. ubizmo's Avatar
    As far as we know that is, we don't know what data they take and how they monetize it.
    From their Terms of Service:

    We do not sell or share your Personally Identifiable Information (such as mobile phone number) with other third-party companies for their commercial or marketing use without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out. We may share your Personally Identifiable Information with third party service providers to the extent that it is reasonably necessary to perform, improve or maintain the WhatsApp Service. We may share non-personally-identifiable information (such as anonymous User usage data, referring / exit pages and URLs, platform types, asset views, number of clicks, etc.) with interested third-parties to assist them in understanding the usage patterns for certain content, services, advertisements, promotions, and/or functionality on the WhatsApp Site.

    I don't think those terms scare off too many people. The point is, people are paying for WhatsApp, so the premise that no one would pay for cross-platform BBM is questionable at best, unless BBM is so poor that it can't compete.

    WhatsApp on iOS costs a one-time purchase fee. On Android it costs a US dollar a year, after an initial free try-out period. I don't know which model would work best for BBM on other platforms.
    03-04-13 09:00 AM
  14. belfastdispatcher's Avatar
    From their Terms of Service:

    We do not sell or share your Personally Identifiable Information (such as mobile phone number) with other third-party companies for their commercial or marketing use without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out. We may share your Personally Identifiable Information with third party service providers to the extent that it is reasonably necessary to perform, improve or maintain the WhatsApp Service. We may share non-personally-identifiable information (such as anonymous User usage data, referring / exit pages and URLs, platform types, asset views, number of clicks, etc.) with interested third-parties to assist them in understanding the usage patterns for certain content, services, advertisements, promotions, and/or functionality on the WhatsApp Site.

    I don't think those terms scare off too many people. The point is, people are paying for WhatsApp, so the premise that no one would pay for cross-platform BBM is questionable at best, unless BBM is so poor that it can't compete.

    WhatsApp on iOS costs a one-time purchase fee. On Android it costs a US dollar a year, after an initial free try-out period. I don't know which model would work best for BBM on other platforms.
    I'd be very disappointed if bbm ever makes it on other platforms, paid or not paid.

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-13 09:20 AM
  15. ubizmo's Avatar
    I'd be very disappointed if bbm ever makes it on other platforms, paid or not paid.
    I completely understand the emotional preference for BBM as a BB exclusive, but from an objective standpoint I don't think it really makes much sense anymore, except in terms of its "premium" features: audio and video chat.

    WhatsApp is out there and apparently doing well, and that changes the market. When BBM was the only service of its kind, it was indeed a reason to own a BB. That is simply no longer the case.

    The only reason I can think of for BBRY not to release BBM to iOS and Android is that they can't compete with WhatsApp and still profit on the venture. I agree with you that they shouldn't take a loss on it.
    03-04-13 09:51 AM
  16. belfastdispatcher's Avatar
    I completely understand the emotional preference for BBM as a BB exclusive, but from an objective standpoint I don't think it really makes much sense anymore, except in terms of its "premium" features: audio and video chat.

    WhatsApp is out there and apparently doing well, and that changes the market. When BBM was the only service of its kind, it was indeed a reason to own a BB. That is simply no longer the case.

    The only reason I can think of for BBRY not to release BBM to iOS and Android is that they can't compete with WhatsApp and still profit on the venture. I agree with you that they shouldn't take a loss on it.
    Bbm was never the only service of its kind, why do you say that?

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-13 10:10 AM
  17. zyad's Avatar
    from a business and future longevity perspective, BBRY is better off adjusting BBM itself to integrate the ability to message users who are on other cross-platform messengers, i.e. have Whatsapp contacts built into the BBM interface seamlessly. So you would have your Whatsapp contacts listed right there with your BBM contacts all on the same screen, with the software relaying the messages and displaying them through the installed 3rd party App.
    A single screen showing chats from various messaging programs would be a huge feature.
    I'm sure that coding this would be a very difficult exercise, and highly affected by third party software updates, but it'll have a huge upside and marketability.
    03-04-13 10:24 AM
  18. ubizmo's Avatar
    Bbm was never the only service of its kind, why do you say that?
    Because I believe it once was.

    That is, I believe BBM was once the only always-on, non-SMS messaging service. I think BBM started with OS 4; is that right? And OS 4 started in about 2004. There were other messaging options on phones back then, such as AIM, but you had to log in and out of those. I had AIM on my SideKick in 2003, but it wasn't the same as BBM. Was there some other BBM-like service back then that I've overlooked?
    03-04-13 10:27 AM
  19. belfastdispatcher's Avatar
    A single screen showing chats from various messaging programs would be a huge feature.
    I'm sure that coding this would be a very difficult exercise, and highly affected by third party software updates, but it'll have a huge upside and marketability.
    You mean like the Hub? Lol

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-13 10:28 AM
  20. belfastdispatcher's Avatar
    Because I believe it once was.

    That is, I believe BBM was once the only always-on, non-SMS messaging service. I think BBM started with OS 4; is that right? And OS 4 started in about 2004. There were other messaging options on phones back then, such as AIM, but you had to log in and out of those. I had AIM on my SideKick in 2003, but it wasn't the same as BBM. Was there some other BBM-like service back then that I've overlooked?
    Well not always on but yahoo messenger, Google talk were on mobiles before bbm I believe.

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-13 10:29 AM
  21. zyad's Avatar
    You mean like the Hub? Lol

    Posted via CB10
    I knew someone would say that lol.
    No I mean a single BBM App screen just for Messaging Apps. The Hub shows everything anyway.
    03-04-13 10:33 AM
  22. machoman1337's Avatar
    There wouldn't be any point because Whatsapp is too dominant already, regardless of BBM's strengths. Voice and video calling always work best with whatever client's baked directly into the OS, i.e. Facetime on iOS and Google Talk on Android (Skype doesn't work that well on either of them, mostly because it needs to be running in the background to receive call requests, and drains battery a lot), so BBM wouldn't have much to offer there if released to other platforms.

    It's like how microsoft's Bing search engine isn't a bad tool, no complaints about it, but Google is just too well established to the point that it won't even occur to most people that there's any alternative search engine in existence.
    03-04-13 10:41 AM
  23. Rayysai's Avatar
    BB would be smart to make BBM cross platform. Why? Relevancy. Right now Whatsapp is growing ever more popular to the point where BBM isn't even important anymore. People who jumped ship from BB are just fine with whatsapp (even though it's an inferior experience to BBM) and BB is losing sales to iOS/Android/WP/etc because the grip BBM had on the market is not what it used to be.

    Since BB's 'communication market share' is being eroded--something they've always been known for and is at the base of their brand, their main focus--they should respond by opening up BBM for other platforms. Why?

    1. Unlike BB as a company, BBM still has its distinguished and well respected goodwill intact. People on other platforms can say (and have said) what they want about Blackberry, but the one thing they can't chirp (and haven't chirped) on is BBM. Having this experience on other platforms will start to create and regain that goodwill back again for Blackberry as a whole. As more and more people use it, they will start to realize that Blackberry makes a damn good communication product. This will increase the propensity in people jumping over to BB because of their positive experience with BBM.

    2. Whatsapp is the #1 communication tool in the world right now. If BBM was released for cross platform, it would unseat Whatsapp within a day, easily. Everyone knows and talks about BBM's communication prowess, but right now Whatsapp is King. Many people using BB's have seen their BBM list shrink and have started to go the whatsapp route simply because they need something to talk with their non-BB friends (myself included, though I'm a huge fan of BBM and think it's the greatest communication tool out there). If BBM went cross-platform it will be the #1 downloaded app and average many million more messages than whatsapp could ever hope for because everyone knows and expects a fantastic experience.

    3. They could monitize it. Whatsapp charges $0.99/year. BBM could provide the same features as whatsapp and charge the same and they'd still take over simply because of their prestige mixed with a much better user experience. If users want advanced features (i.e. BBM video call, Screen Sharing, BBM phone calling) then perhaps they can pay an extra fee ($4.99 for full feature BBM with $0.99 yearly fee? or something to that note), or maybe those features would only be available on Blackberry phones (thus, again, increasing the propensity of switching over once they've had a taste of such a powerful communication tool).

    4. Platform specific communication is gradually becoming less important. People don't want to be stuck with 1 type of communication tool to only be able to talk with people of the same phone and nothing else. You may want to, as your own person, but the majority does not. Whatsapp is perfect proof. There's BBM, there's iMessage but Whatsapp is taking the cake. The numbers don't lie. Get with it or lose to those that are (can anyone say Kodak?).

    Now, would I be saying all this if Blackberry wasn't in it's current position? Absolutely not. If Blackberry was where we all want it to be, if it had a huge market share with enough people already using BBM as their main mode of communication, then I'd say keep it to BB phones; people will come over since it's clearly so famous and successful. However, BB isn't there right now and BB has to respond to the real threat of the market as it stands now. I feel this would be the best way.

    Right now the echoing sentiment in all the forums, websites and people I meet goes something like "BBM? Yea it's good but so what? I have Whatsapp". That needs to change to "I only use BBM, it's the best and I use the best"
    03-04-13 10:58 AM
  24. Semi5's Avatar
    I would like both BBM and iMessage to be available on all platforms. To be honest, it would be very difficult to totally replace my iPhone with the Z10 because I rely so much on iMessage.
    03-04-13 11:05 AM
  25. belfastdispatcher's Avatar
    There's room for both to coexist, they both serve a different purpose.

    BlackBerry should not go after whatsapp's business.

    Posted via CB10
    03-04-13 11:06 AM
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