[southlander]

Shocker! Instant messaging gains popularity as TXTing declines, BBM to blame -- Engadget

BBM is a bright spot for RIM. Good news.

[canook]

Interesting article, I know where I live it is like its own little social network. The way BBM has exploded over the past 3-4 years is incredible. Even preteensare opting for blackberries to get their bbm fix. Kudos to RIM for developing an incredible killer app

[BBPP]

I have not had a BB for a few years (I am waiting to get the Bold Touch now though) and never used BBM. I understand what it is and that it is 'free' but does it use up data on your plan such that you do 'pay' something for it ?

Sorry for the silly question.

[i7guy]

BBM uses data. If all of your friends are on BBM one doesn't need a texting plan saving some money.

[Mark PPG]

I have a teenage son, and he was one of the first to have a BB (I gave him my old one) and now to see he has over 100 BBM contacts is shocking. It seems most kids in highschool (and even middle school) have a BB.

I think that is what is keeping RIM alive in NA...

[Tre Lawrence]

I just said this in another post: RIM should have marketed BBM as an exclusive feature ages ago.

The current ads aimed at younger people are long overdue.

[abdul]

This good news for RIM.

[scalemaster34]

Needs to be on other platforms to stay relevant... and useful. But with BlackBerry only accounting for 15% (Google’s Android Runs 50% of New Smartphones, Nielsen Says) of the smartphones sold in the last 6 months it will be hard to recommend a messaging app that only reaches so few that even have smartphones.

[Callumlord]

Well yes but bbm is free and texts are not so...

[joeldf]

I have not had a BB for a few years (I am waiting to get the Bold Touch now though) and never used BBM. I understand what it is and that it is 'free' but does it use up data on your plan such that you do 'pay' something for it ?

Sorry for the silly question.

As i7guy says, it does use data, but it's so little that you would hardly notice it on your data plan - which you have to have anyway. Unless you send a bunch of pics. Texting plans are always an extra cost on top of data. And with the way kids text these days, a very expensive extra. If it can all be covered under the data plan, there's a lot ofsavings right there.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Rello]

i say its a good thing. carriers are literally raping consumers with text messaging prices. i honestly can't wait until bbm comes to android...i pretty much won't even need a text messaging plan once that happens. $15 - 20 for unlimited texting is crazy

[OniPod]

i say its a good thing. carriers are literally raping consumers with text messaging prices. i honestly can't wait until bbm comes to android...i pretty much won't even need a text messaging plan once that happens. $15 - 20 for unlimited texting is crazy

Until then, you can download Live Profile. I use it to chat with all my Android contacts, and anyone else not on bbm.

[kev23m]

Dont think texting is on a decline , volumes would have increased. Just carriers were making a killing before and have now started to price it fairly so its good for consumers.

[belfastdispatcher]

Part of the BBM magic is that it's exclusive, like an exclusive club. Also, unlike texting you can easily block another person from your bbm forever, there's a lot of bullying done over sms where when the phone number falls in the wrong hands there's no way of stopping it without installing and running an app permanently(assuming you own a smart phone)

Bbm uses an incredibly low amount of data, very useful when roaming.

The problem with other instant messaging clients is that you will end up using several as there's so many of them now.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[belfastdispatcher]

Dont think texting is on a decline , volumes would have increased. Just carriers were making a killing before and have now started to price it fairly so its good for consumers.

True but mms still costs a lot of money, bbm includes that and it's very efficient at it too.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[n8ter#AC]

Well yes but bbm is free and texts are not so...

The data plan is not free, so I doubt carriers care that much since they either mandate data plans with the phones, or even if you get the phone off contract you will get a data plan to use BBM on it.

Contrast that to a feature or dumb phone where you have no choice but to use an SMS/MMS plan because a lot of people don't even use the web on them and skip out on the data plan.

I think VoIP services are hurting carriers more than BBM is. A lot of people are using stuff like Skype/Tango/etc. on their phones and it's causing a lot of people to drop from Unlimited Minutes down to near the bare minimum. That's why Verizon had Skype using your carrier minutes, but I think that's going to change soon now that there are apps coming for other OSes (Android for all other phones with free Skype to Skype calling/Chat, and a Skype App coming for WP7) that do not do this.

I'm willing to bet T-Mobile developed the WiFi Calling Application to give people an incentive to use more carrier minutes (and thus, keep requiring a higher minute plan) instead of migrating to a solution like Skype etc.

As far as IM applications, people have been using those forever, and quite heavily. They are always better than SMS because SMS doesn't allow you to chat with someone using a computer, laptop, or tablet PC. With the growth of the smartphone market, BBM is becoming more and more of a hinderence even for BB users as more people pick up smartphones that aren't BBs and you need to keep in touch with them. In most markets even BB users have to keep some sort of SMS/MMS plan to keep in touch with those people, unless everyone uses an IM application.

[n8ter#AC]

Part of the BBM magic is that it's exclusive, like an exclusive club. Also, unlike texting you can easily block another person from your bbm forever, there's a lot of bullying done over sms where when the phone number falls in the wrong hands there's no way of stopping it without installing and running an app permanently(assuming you own a smart phone)

Bbm uses an incredibly low amount of data, very useful when roaming.

The problem with other instant messaging clients is that you will end up using several as there's so many of them now.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

You can block numbers from texting you, btw...

You can do it on many phones now. If I don't want them texting me, I probably don't want them calling me, either :P

[n8ter#AC]

True but mms still costs a lot of money, bbm includes that and it's very efficient at it too.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

$20 for Family Unlimited SMS/MMS is a drop in the bucket. Not sure what it costs in other countries, but it's cheap as **** here :P

When I was only getting one line from a carrier, it did seem expensive, but with multiple lines (3 lines) it's like $6.33 per line for Unlimited SMS/MMS which is... forgettable. There are tons apps that cost more than that...

[belfastdispatcher]

$20 for Family Unlimited SMS/MMS is a drop in the bucket. Not sure what it costs in other countries, but it's cheap as **** here :P

When I was only getting one line from a carrier, it did seem expensive, but with multiple lines (3 lines) it's like $6.33 per line for Unlimited SMS/MMS which is... forgettable. There are tons apps that cost more than that...

Compare it with £5 per months to keep the bis going on pre pay for UK and it's very expensive, especially when you consider bbm is free internationally as well. The £5 includes emails as well.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[belfastdispatcher]

You can block numbers from texting you, btw...

You can do it on many phones now. If I don't want them texting me, I probably don't want them calling me, either :P

Isn't that what I said????? It needs an app and to run that app in the background though, that was my point.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[belfastdispatcher]

The data plan is not free, so I doubt carriers care that much since they either mandate data plans with the phones, or even if you get the phone off contract you will get a data plan to use BBM on it.

Contrast that to a feature or dumb phone where you have no choice but to use an SMS/MMS plan because a lot of people don't even use the web on them and skip out on the data plan.

I think VoIP services are hurting carriers more than BBM is. A lot of people are using stuff like Skype/Tango/etc. on their phones and it's causing a lot of people to drop from Unlimited Minutes down to near the bare minimum. That's why Verizon had Skype using your carrier minutes, but I think that's going to change soon now that there are apps coming for other OSes (Android for all other phones with free Skype to Skype calling/Chat, and a Skype App coming for WP7) that do not do this.

I'm willing to bet T-Mobile developed the WiFi Calling Application to give people an incentive to use more carrier minutes (and thus, keep requiring a higher minute plan) instead of migrating to a solution like Skype etc.

As far as IM applications, people have been using those forever, and quite heavily. They are always better than SMS because SMS doesn't allow you to chat with someone using a computer, laptop, or tablet PC. With the growth of the smartphone market, BBM is becoming more and more of a hinderence even for BB users as more people pick up smartphones that aren't BBs and you need to keep in touch with them. In most markets even BB users have to keep some sort of SMS/MMS plan to keep in touch with those people, unless everyone uses an IM application.

I don't think BBM is meant to replace all your communications, I wouldn't want it to, I'm happy to use bbm with my closest friends and family, especially as some are in other countries.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[_StephenBB81]

I have not had a BB for a few years (I am waiting to get the Bold Touch now though) and never used BBM. I understand what it is and that it is 'free' but does it use up data on your plan such that you do 'pay' something for it ?

Sorry for the silly question.

BBM does use Data yes, but as a HEAVY user I use Approximately 1MB per day of Data on BBM, other services are around 4MB per day with similar usage ( Tested whilst traveling and paying by the KB!)

Also Many Carriers outside the US offer BBM for Free with Voice Plans to Students, and Family's they don't need to pay for the Data Plan, it is a tool to sell a Smartphone where a featurephone once was, and using the existing Blackberry user base to push them to adding a data plan later, look at the forums and the number of people commenting they don't have a dataplan on their BB, and first thing we tell them is GET A DATAPLAN! brilliance in Carrier Marketing.

Needs to be on other platforms to stay relevant... and useful. But with BlackBerry only accounting for 15% (Google’s Android Runs 50% of New Smartphones, Nielsen Says) of the smartphones sold in the last 6 months it will be hard to recommend a messaging app that only reaches so few that even have smartphones.

I only semi agree, BBM WILL remain relevant even with 15% of smartphones in the US shipping being Blackberry's since those that truly need the service will buy Blackberry's keeping the revenue stream up for RIM, Now a feature limited BBM access service for other platforms as BBM evolves with "super apps" would be a nice feature, but if I was at the RIM helm I would not be pushing BBM to all platforms until it offers a little more to users. and I would only be pushing BBM4.x feature sets, not 5.x/6.x

Until then, you can download Live Profile. I use it to chat with all my Android contacts, and anyone else not on bbm.

ICK!! LiveProfile hehehe my 3 Non BB friends thought I should use it... it lasted days, I'd rather SMS

$20 for Family Unlimited SMS/MMS is a drop in the bucket. Not sure what it costs in other countries, but it's cheap as **** here :P

When I was only getting one line from a carrier, it did seem expensive, but with multiple lines (3 lines) it's like $6.33 per line for Unlimited SMS/MMS which is... forgettable. There are tons apps that cost more than that...

In Canada we have similar deals for SMS/MMS, I think I pay $15 per line for unlimited SMS/MMS,

but it used to be MUCH more expensive

[belfastdispatcher]

Don't forget the SMS/MMS plan will have to come on top of a data plan, factor thet in when comparing to BBM.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[_StephenBB81]

Don't forget the SMS/MMS plan will have to come on top of a data plan, factor thet in when comparing to BBM.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

They are mutually exclusive plans,

One can have either, or Both, so that factor does not need to be taken into account.

IF only ONLY has a dataplan to replace regional SMS/MMS, then the Dataplan actually costs more than regional SMS/MMS usage usually

[damule6666]

Dont forget Whats App.. Great App for all 3 platforms..