[afl777]

I have BBM installed that I hardly use....not many in my circle have BBM, and I'm not a great lover of adding random people just to swell the BBM contact list, 99% of which I would never hear from again after the first "hello".

Most of my family and friends use texts.....remember those, the old fashioned way of messaging....and as I get 5000 of these nifty little blighters free on my tariff, I use those mostly

Don't see any reason at all for me to have yet another way to message anyone....mind you, I am a miserable old git that likes a quiet life

[anon(832122)]

Whatsapp is just texting someone's phone number! Why bother install an application for that? Did they even know you can already do that? What a bunch of ding dong

? Slicing using my ?

It comes down to pricing. In many parts of the world carriers still charge for SMS making whatsapp much more economical. Even in North America many people still have to pay for an sms/mms add on.

[RH1Pearl]

It comes down to pricing. In many parts of the world carriers still charge for SMS making whatsapp much more economical. Even in North America many people still have to pay for an sms/mms add on.

True. SMS in my country is free within the same carrier. If I text someone with a different carrier, it's US 15 cents.

[lovedaazn]

I don't get why people get so hyped up over WhhatsApp when BBM is the same. When I talk to my friends about BBM, they bash it. But it's the same thing!!!!

[Thesmartmale]

Well, 80 million WP users are without BBm, 80 million Max users are without BBM, about 100~ million Android users without GP are without BBM. 2 Billion desktop users are without BBM. Now Viber on the other hand...
Whatsapp targets all platforms as well, making it the lowest common denominator. When you look at all the numbers as well as think about relationships and contacts. It becomes obvious why BBM is failing comparatively

Android users without GP? I wouldn't say so, not all of them don't have BBM.

Posted via CB10

[Thesmartmale]

Then why hasn't skype dominated yet? They are "truly cross platform".

Because Skype is garbage! Barely works, even on the iPhone and messaging on it is pretty difficult!

Posted via CB10

[Mr_F]

I don't think they should move away from the pin because it makes if different. But I agree maybe they can give u the option to choose adding by pin or adding contacts by phone number....

Posted via CB10

Fully agree - I really think this is the way forward.

What I'd like to see implemented is an 'optional' linking of a telephone number with your BBID. The current BBID sign up page asks for an email address and password. I'd like to see this expanded to include a field where you could input your telephone number as well. It wouldn't be a mandatory field but one that could be used by those who want to - so the registration of the BBID would still work without entering a number (if the user didn't want to). This would be a way to appease those who wanted to keep their BBM experience a PIN only one.

I believe that having an optional linking of telephone numbers would be the best of both worlds - as it would allow the user to control how private they want to be. For those that want the extra convenience and visibility that number association would bring - it would give them that. And for those that want to maintain the privacy and security of a PIN only experience - nothing need change for them.

I've never been a huge fan of mandatory number association but I do recognize the fact that it is infinitely more effective if you're trying to go viral. Sadly, I'm of the belief that WhatsApp will continue to outgrow BBM unless a change is implemented.

For all of the benefits that come with the PIN system - facilitated rapid growth is not one of them (unfortunately). Having an optional number association is (imo) the only way to reap the rewards of both systems without alienating either camp. I just hope they're brave enough to make the change.

[nabil114]

It came before Blackberry. (In terms of other platforms)

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Sorry you can be the bell of the ball (prettiest girl), but if you show up two hours after everyone has left.... who cares.

Posted via Android CrackBerry App

[web99]

OP, BBM only went cross-platform to ios and Android last October and WhatsApp has had a 4 to 5 year headstart. To expect BBM to dominate WhatsApp right now in terms of brand recognition and usage is unrealistic.

The best thing that BlackBerry can do right now is to continue improving BBM and adding features.

Over time BBM will increase its userbase and its commercial presence. But it's not going to happen overnight.

Posted via CB10 from my spectacular Z10

[whatsever]

whatsapp is money because they get lots of funding and every picture and video you send is stored on there network. As soon your data is on the server they have copyright to sell your data. Whatsapp is big business and that's why Facebook paid so much and that's why I don't use whatsapp since last year.

You can see the whole data thing and 400M users that is lot of data to sell

[Dave Bourque]

One reason Whatsapp is now more popular could well be Channels. Absolutely fine on BB10....but far too much for a lot of the 'memory struggling' older OS7 and below devices. Channels on these devices has caused major issues, causing, in some cases, BBM to virtually be un-usable. The ones I used to deal with on help pages complained bitterly about this, and as I tried to direct these users to a tried and trusted link to get back an older non channel version, Blackberry didn't like it....saying folks had to move forward. My thoughts were that it was better for people to be able to easily use BBM, even if that meant rolling back to a previous version. Just one more issue why quite a few users gave up and changed platform.

This is a good point. They should of kept channels for BB10 and focused on performance for BBM OS 7

Z10STL100-3/10.2.1.3175

[sk8er_tor]

BlackBerry had unlimited BBM deals with carriers a long time ago but it only applied to BlackBerry handsets. I'm sure they can do the same with cross-platform BBM as that was the plan that Jim Balsillie had a while back.

So true. Many people on here will say BBM is more secure, or they like having a pin so random can't contact them. Ummmmmm if they already have your number, why can't they contact you?!?

The reason this doesn't work for me is because I'll then have work people contacting me on WhatsApp rather then emailing me thus preventing a message trail, they can see my goofy picture, status message, etc. You really think I want that?
So I use BBM because I can select who I want to chat with, who can see my profile picture, etc. Work colleagues must either call or email.

[WWBlondieDo]

I gave my phone to my daughter, bought a new one and had to reinstall all my Apps. My original WhatsApp contacts were originally restored in an instant. My BBM, I couldn't log in because I forgot my password. I sent request to BlackBerry to send my password by email. No reply. So I kept uninstalling and installing BBM hoping the problem would go away. After my 4th try, I checked the Spam messages in my Gmail and I found BlackBerry's reply. I almost gave up. This is how hard it is to reinstall BBM and how SUPER easy it is to reinstall WhatsApp in a new phone.

The problem here has NOTHING to do with BBM being hard to reinstall. You forgot your password - that's not BlackBerry's fault. Gmail put BlackBerry's email in your spam folder - again, not BlackBerry's fault. BBM is easy as all get out to reinstall and get working again - it literally only requires that you remember your login and password - just like fb, twitter, snapchat, instagram, etc...

Posted via CB10

[raino]

Ummmmmm if they already have your number, why can't they contact you?!?

Because they may not have obtained your number with your permission? If someone knows where you live, are you ok with them inviting themselves over to your place?

[anon8656116]

This fact here makes me believe that people dont really care about privacy and are ready to share their phone numbers with anybody

What makes you say that? If you have some common sense and awareness for privacy, you won't share your phone number easily. And if you do, you can always block other people. We used phone numbers before Whatsapp was around, I don't understand why it's such a big deal all of a sudden. I can understand the advantages of having a secret pin, but I won't say that the alternative is bad for your privacy.

[kwenie]

Because they may not have obtained your number with your permission? If someone knows where you live, are you ok with them inviting themselves over to your place?

What does that matter at all?
Point is, they have your number now so they can send you an SMS, call you or ... Whatsapp you.

Obviously we can discuss being able to limit visibility of your status on Whatsapp to let's say "friends" or whatever, but imo it is clear as day that using pins is inferior to doing it via phone numbers.

Posted via CB10

[sk8er_tor]

What does that matter at all?
Point is, they have your number now so they can send you an SMS, call you or ... Whatsapp you.

Obviously we can discuss being able to limit visibility of your status on Whatsapp to let's say "friends" or whatever, but imo it is clear as day that using pins is inferior to doing it via phone numbers.

The point is if they have your number without you giving it to them, then they can still see your picture, your status message, and when you last came online, all without you even knowing and without you having them in your address book. This is a big privacy flaw with WhatsApp.

Using PINs instead of phone number is not "inferior." It's actually a better solution for those who care about privacy. Can you imagine what would happen if as soon as you install the Facebook app, it goes through your address book and any matches are now "friends?" Now picture that happening without even notifying you that the other person added you as a friend, can see your photo and status message, all without you knowing. That's WhatsApp!!!

BlackBerry can certainly invoke a different method of matching users based on the address book and I'm pretty sure they said they will do this. But with BlackBerry, the user is always in full control of who can see the picture, status message, and can send you messages.

[RH1Pearl]

The problem here has NOTHING to do with BBM being hard to reinstall. You forgot your password - that's not BlackBerry's fault. Gmail put BlackBerry's email in your spam folder - again, not BlackBerry's fault. BBM is easy as all get out to reinstall and get working again - it literally only requires that you remember your login and password - just like fb, twitter, snapchat, instagram, etc...

Posted via
CB10

How many people would go through with what I did though if that happened? I only have 2 BBM contacts versus xxx in Whatsapp. I was ready to give up on BBM until I thought of the Spam. Even if it takes two extra steps to get BBM back, the fact is WhatsApp got installed quickly and I was ready to message

[greenpoise]

I hate the idea of anyone who has my number have access to whatsap me!! That's why I only use BBM. Privacy as simple as that.

Posted via CB10

[Gnomesane]

Well, 80 million WP users are without BBm, 80 million Max users are without BBM, about 100~ million Android users without GP are without BBM. 2 Billion desktop users are without BBM. Now Viber on the other hand...
Whatsapp targets all platforms as well, making it the lowest common denominator. When you look at all the numbers as well as think about relationships and contacts. It becomes obvious why BBM is failing comparatively

Windows Phone users will soon be WITH BBM. Personally, I'm excited to see Windows Phone get added to the BBM Family, and once it happens I'll be happy to send you my PIN and add you to my contacts, heh.

I too would like to see BBM added to the desktop, and other devices as well. I love using it.

[PantherBlitz]

When I go online I type the name of a site or an email address. If Blackberry ran the internet I would have to remember "28TyJq873" instead of "crackberry.com" and email "001100101101" instead of "kevin@crackberry".

[cathulu15]

My wife installed BBM on her iPhone, gave it a good try, even liked it but a bug around the update caused her to continually get a message notification that could not be deleted. So she has lost interest. I will try again but if she gets another bug it will be over. She mainly uses whatsapp and humors me on bbm.

Posted via CB10

[Coffee Shampoo]

BBM looks outdated, WhatsApp looks modern and its theme feels like it's targeted to a younger audience. And on top of that BBM is generally terrible when it comes to chatting with iOS or Android (yeah, I know WhatsApp goes down too, that's not the point AT ALL), so who would even use it with that start?

Anyway, since BlackBerry doesn't even market it, no one will do the job for them, I'm kind of glad BBM remains in abyss compared to other IM platforms, hopefully that'll make BlackBerry wake up and realize their work hasn't been good enough.

Posted via CB10

[dracolnyte]

wechat is also dominating