[roderickwill]

As many of us on this follow other tech sites and I for one read up on what zdnet.com has to say about the going on's in the tech world. But more and more I'm becoming irritated (would be putting it mildly) on how bias they are towards BB. For example they posted an article; the FB msger is the BBM killer. How can that remotely happen when not everyone uses FB, I for one haven’t been on it in over a year. To say you have a BBM killer you have to at least present a product that people from all walks of life would care to use. Contrary to perception not everyone tweets or FB.

And the straw that broke the camel's back is this article:

UK government keeps RIM in play with BlackBerry 7 security rating
By Zack Whittaker | May 17, 2012, 6:21am PDT

Summary: RIM is holding on to the niche government market by certifying BlackBerry 7 as fit for government use, while Apple and Google have yet to step up to the mark.

The U.K. government’s electronic security group, CESG has rubber-stamped Research in Motion’s newest operating system as fit for government and law enforcement use.


Google and Apple have yet to achieve the highly coveted status that RIM has been able to reach for two years in a row.

A plan to issue iPads to all members of Parliament (MPs) is set to go ahead in the coming weeks, though the devices cannot be used to read classified material.

Civil servants, ministers, secretaries of state and MPs alike, will be able to send and receive documents classified up to “RESTRICTED”, which is reserved for material that might make the government look silly if leaked, but is unlikely to spark a war.

The CESG approval is good news for the BlackBerry maker, but it’s not government machines or devices that get hacked.

It often falls down to human error, incompetence, or good old-fashioned plain stupidity, such as the time ”TOP SECRET” documents were left by a senior civil servant on an outbound train to Surrey.

BlackBerry’s get lost all the time. Because the devices are plugged into the security matrix, the devices are unreadable to those outside the walls of government. But more often than not it’s the civil servants themselves who leak documents to the press, rather than a journalist stumbling on a governmental BlackBerry.

There are five levels of classification in the U.K. that relate directly to the level of vetting one receives, with “RESTRICTED” settling low down in fourth place.

From these classifications stems an interesting story — something the Brits are keen for their American counterparts never to forget:

The U.K. and U.S. government aligned their security clearance levels during World War II. As the two strongest allies, the U.K.’s security classification of documents — including the top “Most Confidential” — was misunderstood by the U.S. government and led to classified material finding its way to the hands of the U.S. media.

The U.K. was understandably furious and was forced to rename its security levels so the U.S. wouldn’t accidentally hand over matters of national security to the press.

In the meantime, BlackBerry’s still hold the government niche market. But others are catching up. Across the pond, Google and Apple have included government-grade encryption in their software and continue to seek certification. If Google and Apple pass the tests, it could lead to a mass BlackBerry exodus in the public sector.

Considering how low RIM is in market share rankings at the moment, it could signal the further demise of the smartphone maker.


Why in the same article the author is crediting and discrediting blackberry all in the same piece and is biasly doing it in the matter that is down right repulsive. Everyone gets the picture, RIM is in a dark place right now but really who and their "right" mind would be perfectly content with just a two mobile platform world. I mean just ask the loyal Verizon customers how they are feeling about the mobile giant nowadays and I bet you will have more turn coats in there than you would think. BUT at least from a mobile company standpoint there are still options. If RIM falls short I feel sorry for how the consumers will be bullied and abused by the "two" platforms left but then again you get what you ask for....Let’s GO RIM!

[jhanks64]

I have noticed that blogger seems to always find the negative spin for any BlackBerry story.

[roderickwill]

I have noticed that blogger seems to always find the negative spin for any BlackBerry story.

I guess you earn strips as a blogger today when you hop on the bandwagon and bash or follow what everyone else is writing. And here I thought one of the purpose of a "blooger" was to be voice against the mainstream...slap myself in the face for naiiveness..

[bdguru]

I have never Tweeted or logged on to FB. Never say never but I'll take that bet.

Sent from my VZW 9330.

[menaknow]

Want to get readership for your blog... p*** off an audience!

Flavour of the year is BlackBerry, and it's guaranteed to have the "I can't believe he said this" affect.

Just ignore those blogs, sign up for an rss field and start picking an choosing.

I've stopped reading wired since I did that as not a lot of content is worth reading over their...

[kbz1960]

Well OP are you saying everyone uses BBM? Nope only if you have a bb. I have a bb and don't use it. While I don't use facebook I can assure you it's on all platforms and has many more users. Other than that.........

[pantlesspenguin]

Well OP are you saying everyone uses BBM? Nope only if you have a bb. I have a bb and don't use it. While I don't use facebook I can assure you it's on all platforms and has many more users. Other than that.........

This. According to Facebook - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, "As of May 2012[update], Facebook has over 900 million active users, more than half of them using mobile devices." I couldn't find recent BB stats, but I seem to recall the 77 million figure talked about as far as BB user base. Those numbers should make it pretty clear.

[roderickwill]

Well OP are you saying everyone uses BBM? Nope only if you have a bb. I have a bb and don't use it. While I don't use facebook I can assure you it's on all platforms and has many more users. Other than that.........

You're right to a degree everyone doesn’t have BBM but everyone with a ear to the tech world respects BBM hence the reason you have bloggers trying to find the "latest" universal msger and label it the BBM killer (ie kik). For years and I do mean years I've always heard blackberry just have BBM if it wasn’t for BBM BB wouldn’t be anything to talk about. Well I rarely use my BBM like I use to but I will say this BB the phone is a lot more reliable than any droid phone and Iphone comes in second in retrospect in regards to reliability. Now when the new OS for BB drops those numbers might change because you will have a UI that rivals Apples.

BUT there is still not a universal msger to date that can rival BBM.

[kbz1960]

You're right to a degree everyone doesn’t have BBM but everyone with a ear to the tech world respects BBM hence the reason you have bloggers trying to find the "latest" universal msger and label it the BBM killer (ie kik). For years and I do mean years I've always heard blackberry just have BBM if it wasn’t for BBM BB wouldn’t be anything to talk about. Well I rarely use my BBM like I use to but I will say this BB the phone is a lot more reliable than any droid phone and Iphone comes in second in retrospect in regards to reliability. Now when the new OS for BB drops those numbers might change because you will have a UI that rivals Apples.

BUT there is still not a universal msger to date that can rival BBM.

Agree with the rest but bbm is not universal. No one can use it unless they own a blackberry. You can't message someone on iOS, android, windows, mac etc.

I prefer a messenger that doesn't care what OS or platform you're using. From what I hear BBM is awesome but if no one I want to use it with owns a bb it does me no good. Now if they made it for all platforms of course I'd use it.

[pantlesspenguin]

You're right to a degree everyone doesn’t have BBM but everyone with a ear to the tech world respects BBM hence the reason you have bloggers trying to find the "latest" universal msger and label it the BBM killer (ie kik). For years and I do mean years I've always heard blackberry just have BBM if it wasn’t for BBM BB wouldn’t be anything to talk about. Well I rarely use my BBM like I use to but I will say this BB the phone is a lot more reliable than any droid phone and Iphone comes in second in retrospect in regards to reliability. Now when the new OS for BB drops those numbers might change because you will have a UI that rivals Apples.

BUT there is still not a universal msger to date that can rival BBM.

Sure, there are tons of messagers that try to compare themselves to BBM, like you mentioned kik, and there's also Live Profile, iMessage, etc. However FB messenger wasn't even developed as a BBM killer, but millions and millions of people use it anyway. Of course it's NOWHERE NEAR as robust as BBM, but for general chat, group chat, and photo sharing it's pretty nice.

[Tre Lawrence]

Well OP are you saying everyone uses BBM? Nope only if you have a bb. I have a bb and don't use it. While I don't use facebook I can assure you it's on all platforms and has many more users. Other than that.........

Thank you for injecting some common sense into the thread.

[Blackberry_boffin]

It does seem as if some are willing RIM to fail by trying to soil their crown jewel (okay one of the crown jewels)
The thing with BBM is it just works so effortlessly whenever you need it to. It is also so secure without being unduly complex. Of course not everyone uses it but I dare you to find tech with 100% adoption. To even rope in Facebook is plain naive. FB messenger is just nowhere close in functionality even if it might have wider usage.
Any messaging service has to be compared with BBM if it really wants to be taken seriously. So much so that these "BBM killer" tags are now bandied about look booze at a bachelor party. Secretly RIM must be flattered.
Then there is the tag of RIM stagnating, RIM has a chance to put that to bed with BB10. The most dangerous phase is the period between now and then.

[bdguru]

FB and BBM are just like our phones.....use what works for you. All good posts here. When it comes to universal messaging I just text or email. That's what works for me.

Sent from my VZW 9330.

[southlander]

I do not care how many people are on facebook. I am not going to private message anyone anything that is of any importance using an infrastructure that's built to "share" with all.

All it takes is one bug to make what you thought was private... Public. This kind of thing has happened before on FB.

With BBM or SMS by its very nature it is primarily one to one.


Sent from my BlackBerry Bold 9930 using Tapatalk

[FRG_RC]

FB is the BBM killer. Sure, if you want TO EVERYONE IN THE WORLD knows what do you talk with your friends/loved-ones/costumers... please

[Napster16]

BBM over facebook ANYDAY.... I personally find that facebook has grown to SUCK Just my opinion....

[howarmat]

I think you miss the target audience. Many teens use BB for BBM and that is it really. These same teens would also have FB accounts. They would be able to chat from phones, tablets, laptops and PCs all with the same messenger. That is going to be attractive for some kids. This is not aimed at the business people in the world. Now all phones should have this app so BB still would be in the mix especially with the keyboard. Overall i dont think that it will steal that many people from BB so its surely no a "bbm killer"

[addicted44]

As many of us on this follow other tech sites and I for one read up on what zdnet.com has to say about the going on's in the tech world. But more and more I'm becoming irritated (would be putting it mildly) on how bias they are towards BB. For example they posted an article; the FB msger is the BBM killer. How can that remotely happen when not everyone uses FB, I for one haven’t been on it in over a year.

While I really really doubt FB messaging has had any sort of impact, your argument for why that is the case just doesn't make sense when FB has over 10 times the # of users as BB. If anything, FB is used by people from all walks of life far more than BB.

[roderickwill]

While I really really doubt FB messaging has had any sort of impact, your argument for why that is the case just doesn't make sense when FB has over 10 times the # of users as BB. If anything, FB is used by people from all walks of life far more than BB.

Like pantless, stated in a earlier post and other have stated since then as well as myself people are quick to label the latest hot msger as the BBM killer because BBM is on the top without anything in the foreseeable future that can dethrone it. My point is a social media chat msger service isnt for everyone because everyone is not into the social media movement. Where I do agree with you FB is used by people from all walks of life so its safe to say its world wide just like BB. BB is for people from all walks of life and is world wide to also. But the main point of my argument was bloggers using any means to distrust and bury bb

[roderickwill]

I think you miss the target audience. Many teens use BB for BBM and that is it really. These same teens would also have FB accounts. They would be able to chat from phones, tablets, laptops and PCs all with the same messenger. That is going to be attractive for some kids. This is not aimed at the business people in the world. Now all phones should have this app so BB still would be in the mix especially with the keyboard. Overall i dont think that it will steal that many people from BB so its surely no a "bbm killer"

RIM didnt have a target market the market (teens) pick them. Even now its torn so to say in one hand if you see a person like Adam Schefter(ESPN Insider) and you see him with his BB by his side in every public video or picture so to say. You dont think BBM when you see him with it you think Business and a person that needs information right when its happening. Now on the other hand you see a teen with it and you think BBM. I never seen such a thing in regards to a device before....as we all hope this kind of divide will change once BB10 hits.

[kbz1960]

You picked a bad example.

http://forums.crackberry.com/off-top...hefter-723759/

[Tre Lawrence]

You picked a bad example.

http://forums.crackberry.com/off-top...hefter-723759/

LOL.... get out of my head.

[Mystic205]

lets face it, the use of BBM is dying here in the USA.... only 8% of smartphone users, which is 4% of cellphone users, are buying a Blackberry...so FB messenger isnt "killing off BBM".. BBM is dying by itself..

In saying all that, FB messaging isnt replacing or substituting for anything.. its a garbage means of communication... I do not know a single person that uses it as a substitute for any other messaging app...

[roderickwill]

You picked a bad example.

http://forums.crackberry.com/off-top...hefter-723759/

What's wrong with Adam he's one of the people who have nothing but support for the reliability of BB....Again I dont see why Americans looks forward to the day when there's just a two platform world...that is scary

[DarcDroid]

People like to read article where a device that they didnt use get bashed
they feel like "Im glad I choose Apple/Android"
just like us when we read bad news about Apple or Android

Sent from my BlackBerry 9700 using Crackberry Apps