[BassonCJ]

This made me rather frustrated with RIM, and I am normally the first to their defense.

Shape's IM+ for Blackberry Playbook

[DrRambone]

Its this kind f behaviour that will make RIM a real looser.
Look at how Apple and Goggle support their devs.
RIM sucks big time ...

[Marcel38]

Wow...
If this is true, and it looks like it is, then i'm not happy at all ... and my patience and trust in RIMM get's a big negative taste in my mouth.

[qoute]This made me rather frustrated with RIM, and I am normally the first to their defense.[/qoute] -> Same feelings here, damn this should not happen at all...

[eldeestephens]

This made me rather frustrated with RIM, and I am normally the first to their defense.

Shape's IM+ for Blackberry Playbook

i've been wondering why IM+ has taken so long to get approved. and it's not the only application RIM is refusing to publish: aMail is another in perpetual 'approval limbo' for some reason. is RIM deliberately trying to get us to purchase a blackberry smartphone if we want email/PIM functionality?! i mean, what on earth could possibly be the logic here?

this is the kind of anti-competitive nonsense you get from apple. it's not something i would have expected from RIM; if i had known they would behave like this, i never would have purchased a playbook.

-- eldee

[howarmat]

amail is a totally different story and it appears to be a scam more or less. So its hard to say if they even submitted the app to get approved or not

[dasDestruktion]

amail is a totally different story and it appears to be a scam more or less. So its hard to say if they even submitted the app to get approved or not

How so? I haven't heard anything about them in forever!

[eldeestephens]

amail is a totally different story and it appears to be a scam more or less. So its hard to say if they even submitted the app to get approved or not

really?! i was planning on side-loading their application later today to give it a try. is there some reason i shouldn't?

@thread

i've asked on RIM's wall at facebook about the situation with IM+. i doubt i'll get an answer.

-- eldee

[trsbbs]

Why don't they make it available for side loading then?

Tim

[Siiid]

Disheartening

[trsbbs]

IF this can be verified with the author then CB should post it on the front page.

This is an app that has a good history on the phones.

Tim

[BassonCJ]

I am pretty positive that it is verified stuff.

I am guessing they won't make it available for side loading because it will be a paid application.

[Darlaten]

Assuming this story is true, is it any wonder that there is so much cynacism towards RIM and their ability to compete and survive in the modern age. Disheartening indeed.

[Prey521]

She just posted an update stating that IM+ is 100% functional and they already have an update for it. So it looks like this is totally on RIM!

[howarmat]

amail fiasco for those asking, pretty sad to see it happen like that

http://forums.crackberry.com/playboo...ad-now-619466/

[trsbbs]

I am pretty positive that it is verified stuff.

I am guessing they won't make it available for side loading because it will be a paid application.

They can if they want to. AiFlex does/did with AMail.

You simply pay for the app via PayPal and then they send you the download link and activation code.

Not hard to do.

You would think, since they claim they have $$$s invested, that they would
have explored side loading as a way to recoup their investment.

Tim

[donjunto]

I DOn't Really care about IM+ I never used it in the past, so why care about it in the furutre? I still got hopes in RIM.....

[jvictor77]

I DOn't Really care about IM+ I never used it in the past, so why care about it in the furutre? I still got hopes in RIM.....

Good for you - but us thousands of IM+ users do care. This is totally unacceptable!!

[Marcel38]

I DOn't Really care about IM+ I never used it in the past, so why care about it in the furutre? I still got hopes in RIM.....

You should try it!
I have it for: Blackberry Torch, iPad1, and older BB's .. and it rocks, it is a very nice developed app and looks stunning.

But, if RIMM approves 'how to learn urdu for blackberry' ... and not IM+ then i'm serously dissapointed and cannot understand this, but let;s hope their is a valid reason for it.

[Foreverup]

You should try it!
I have it for: Blackberry Torch, iPad1, and older BB's .. and it rocks, it is a very nice developed app and looks stunning.

But, if RIMM approves 'how to learn urdu for blackberry' ... and not IM+ then i'm serously dissapointed and cannot understand this, but let;s hope their is a valid reason for it.

I would say the reason is RIM doesn't want an IM client on the playbook until native BBM is there. But that is only a guess.

[Mojoski]

There is no valid reason for the way SHAPE is being treated, regardless of any issues that the app itself might have. I am a huge RIM fanboy but I have to say that RIM is totally screwing up here and this is making it harder for us to get good developers to commit to our favorite new platform! It is absolute BS! Why would anyone want to commit resources and time to developing a complex Playbook app if they might get treated like aiFlex or SHAPE have been treated?

And I'm sad to see people claiming aMail was some sort of "scam". That is blatantly false. I have side loaded the bar file from aiFlex and the app is perfectly functional. It certainly has some shortcomings, like no formatted HTML email in the first version, but it is certainly no scam! It is a functioning native email app that does just what the developer said it would do.

You should get your facts straight before you start accusing a good Playbook developer like aiFlex of putting out a "scam". aVNC is one of my favorite apps and it has been rock solid. I use it every day..

[eldeestephens]

I would say the reason is RIM doesn't want an IM client on the playbook until native BBM is there. But that is only a guess.

i have a feeling you're closer to the mark than you might realize. for some reason they have refused to approve any email or IM clients for popular IM services whatsoever. and there have been submissions beyond just IM+ and aMail.

there is no logical conclusion except that RIM does not want third-party email/PIM apps that go beyond web services. period. to say i am disappointed is an understatement.

i love my playbook, i really do. i demo it to people, and they're hugely impressed. until they find out it doesn't have native email. or contacts. or calendar. or netflix. or kindle. or pandora. or.....

-- eldee

[trsbbs]

Why not take it to RIM?

PlayBook Technical Support Phone Number - PlayBook Help Phone

Enter your PB serial number then when the page changes
choose to send an email or call them.

I just sent them a email (via the link above) asking why. To not respond with "I dont know" or some other cookie cutter response. Asking them to kick it upstairs also helps. My incident number is INC000023319419

Be firm, to the point, and polite. Ask them to kick it upstairs to people that can give a real answer to it.

Instead of whinning here about about lets take it to RIM!

PS, this is not a bashing of RIM but rather a "we need answers now" sort of thing.
Done in the interest in getting to the truth and helping to improve RIMs customer
relations and helping them avoid getting even more bad press. This will also show support for those Devs out there!

Tim

[MobileGlick]

Sadly I agree. Since apps are getting approved but apps that might compete with RIM offerings are caught in limbo this appears to be the kind of situation Apple had with Google Voice (though there it seemed to be a business conflict with their partner AT&T rather than Apple directly).

I would guess that RIM is still trying to figure out their strategy on many areas and one of them is on these communications tools. They are probably loathe to make a mistake and find out later that they gave away the golden goose (think carriers with App stores, eBay with PayPal, or IBM with operating systems). RIM does IM with their devices and probably wants to leverage the NOC-based infrastructure for that (plus there is that whole NOC fee issue with carriers which must be causing headaches for RIM around services like BBM and PIM on a WiFi only device (who collects the NOC fee? if carriers are the best partners, where does this leave them if RIM is forced to go direct to consumers and businesses because the device doesn't yet have a 3G/4G radio)). If another product comes to market first, they may find themselves competing with apps on their own platform for things that were seen as part of the RIM communications experience (3rd party experiences are much easier to transition to other platforms and push people out of the OEMs ecosystem).

It seems each player in this space (Apple, Google, RIM, etc) all want users to be tied to their ecosystem but users want to be free to use the services they are used to (Skype for voice and video, MSN for IM, Kindle for eBooks, iTunes for music, NetFlix for video, etc) but each time a platform vendor makes a play, they always want to try and shift these other services to their own offering (or a negotiated 3rd party offering that users generally don't want (KoBu, iBooks, 7Digital, Facetime, etc)).

Let's hope RIM takes the path of embracing developers and allowing a full ecosystem of products, apps, and services on the Playbook so that we all can have the best experiences possible.

Winning by having the best offering is the best business model (and the only sustainable one); trying to lock people into your particular services when they are not what customers want feels like a recipe for anger, frustration, and eventual defection.

[Foreverup]

@Mobile

I truly think when native PIMs come to the playbook RIM is going to have to offer NOC services for free. Just the delay of these service to this point, it is the only valid reason I can think of.

[rolexconfuse]

I'm sadden by this and it makes me wonder what other applications are held in limbo. Kindle app, netflix app, Skype app, and etc.

In the end regardless of what happens it's the customers who get shafted. There are apps that are on other competing tablets but not on the PB. Even apple has allowed an MSN app on the ipad.

Seriously sometimes I think the people who made the PB doesn't actually use the PB as used by their target audience. Are you aiming the PB at the business users or the causal consumer?

It's 2 different segements, business users will lean more toward more business applications. Causual consumer want apps directed at enterainment and less about work. It's pains me as a owner of a PB that neither CEO's can see this.