1. boeingrules's Avatar
    Ever since BBM has been released on iPhone and Android, hardware sales have been drastically dropping. To be fair, they've been dropping anyways, but I'm really thinking that BBM going cross platform could be playing a part in this decline.

    As I recall, many people were already speculating that this would happen before the release. There was a very valid reason for this fear, because there were a lot of people that held on to a BlackBerry solely for using BBM. This might not be too apparent for a lot of people, but people in places like Indonesia can really feel this. This means that a lot of people would have either stopped using their BlackBerry device or refrained from buying one.

    Personally, I don't think cross platform BBM was a good move for BlackBerry. Yes, it does make the end user happy, but even then, only those using a BlackBerry device. The BBM experience on other platforms has been less than satisfactory. So on top of people refraining from buying BlackBerry phones, they would also be scaring away potential customers and making their image dig even deeper into the ground.

    Posted via CB10
    SteveBB10 likes this.
    03-29-14 12:01 AM
  2. Thunderbuck's Avatar
    I think you could make the case right back that cross-platform BBM actually kept a lot of users from defecting to other platforms.

    The whole "why should anyone buy BB if you can get BBM on everything?" argument presumes that BBM is the only reason to buy a BlackBerry to begin with. Anybody who truly believes that there's no other reason to be on BB should probably change platforms anyway.
    03-29-14 12:04 AM
  3. CecilTsunami's Avatar
    So, the best place to experience BBM is still on a BlackBerry. If you really were only keeping BlackBerry because you were a hardcore BBM fan, would you still not use the brand of phone it works best on?

    I was against the idea at first. But now, I'm enjoying talking to people on all platforms. And of the people I know who have dumped their BlackBerry phones for another platform, I have to say I don't know any who were hanging on solely for BBM. And most of them didn't leave because BBM was on different platforms. They left because their OS 6 and 7 phones wouldn't stop freezing and needing a reboot.

    Posted via CB10
    03-29-14 12:14 AM
  4. boeingrules's Avatar
    I think you could make the case right back that cross-platform BBM actually kept a lot of users from defecting to other platforms.

    The whole "why should anyone buy BB if you can get BBM on everything?" argument presumes that BBM is the only reason to buy a BlackBerry to begin with. Anybody who truly believes that there's no other reason to be on BB should probably change platforms anyway.

    I see what you mean. But, like I said, many people on places like Indonesia really do buy and use BlackBerry's only for BBM, because it is the most prominent instant messaging app there. Many of these people carry it as their secondary phone and don't even like their BlackBerry's. But now, telling from experience, many people have dumped their BlackBerry's for an iPhone or a massive Samsung tablet.

    Posted via CB10
    03-29-14 12:37 AM
  5. badiyee's Avatar
    I see what you mean. But, like I said, many people on places like Indonesia really do buy and use BlackBerry's only for BBM, because it is the most prominent instant messaging app there. Many of these people carry it as their secondary phone and don't even like their BlackBerry's. But now, telling from experience, many people have dumped their BlackBerry's for an iPhone or a massive Samsung tablet.

    Posted via CB10

    I think your statement is challengeable. People are buying new Androids compared to BlackBerry devices because they find value per rupiah, specs wise or user experience wise.

    But to say that cross platform BBM impacting hardware sales, if in the case of Indonesia is quite challengeable.
    03-29-14 06:01 AM
  6. agarwal.apar's Avatar
    I can understand this.. Sales *might* have dropped in Indonesia, Africa etc where people solely dependent on BBM. However, we cannot make this statement for the entire chunk of population who are/were on BlackBerry. I am in India and people ditched BBm long back and replaced with Whatsapp. I picked up a Z10 back in December just to play around with OS 10 and then gave it to my wife and I got back to my oold reliable iPhone 5. I didnt ditch B 10 becuase of BBM availability on iOS but for various other reasons in which I won't dive in.

    So, to a certain extent - yes, sales have dropped in few countries but not all across the globe. People usually buy BB for effeciency, multi-tasking and battery life
    badiyee likes this.
    03-29-14 06:17 AM
  7. Troy Tiscareno's Avatar
    Of COURSE xBBM has had a negative impact on hardware sales. As the OP stated, this was expected from before it was released, and has definitely happened in countries where BBM was the primary messenger (Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Nigeria, etc.). It was inevitable.

    BB was, as always, way late to the game. xBBM should have happened 3-4 years earlier, when BBM was dominant and when the competition was small or non-existent - BBM could have been THE standard. But Mike wanted to protect device sales, and was absolutely against it (Jim was all for it!). How did that go, Mike?

    BB's poor execution of BBM on iOS and Android certainly hasn't helped. Again, if these teething problems were happening in 2010, BB would have had time to get those issues resolved before WhatsApp could have gotten a toe-hold, but we're into 2014 and xBBM is still badly broken on non-BB devices. That's all on BB, as every other messenger works fine on those platforms.

    Poor timing and poor execution have long been the hallmarks of BB, and that goes back to the culture that Mike created, which continues to poison BB to this day.
    boeingrules likes this.
    03-29-14 12:29 PM
  8. boeingrules's Avatar
    I can understand this.. Sales *might* have dropped in Indonesia, Africa etc where people solely dependent on BBM. However, we cannot make this statement for the entire chunk of population who are/were on BlackBerry. I am in India and people ditched BBm long back and replaced with Whatsapp. I picked up a Z10 back in December just to play around with OS 10 and then gave it to my wife and I got back to my oold reliable iPhone 5. I didnt ditch B 10 becuase of BBM availability on iOS but for various other reasons in which I won't dive in.

    So, to a certain extent - yes, sales have dropped in few countries but not all across the globe. People usually buy BB for effeciency, multi-tasking and battery life
    Although it's true that cross BBM might have only impacted sales in a few select countries where BBM remains the dominant IM app, you should also take into account that those few countries are some of the biggest BlackBerry buyers. Indonesia, Nigeria, Malaysia, among others contribute a lot to BlackBerry sales. Even a small percentage change in any of those countries can have a rather worrying effect on overall sales numbers.

    Posted via CB10
    03-30-14 12:33 AM

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