[BBUK13]

I think it can. The only worry I have is the management of the company, who have shown themselves over the last year to be entirely devoid of understanding of the public. On the other hand, they have acquired a company to handle that aspect of BBM so maybe there is hope. What do you guys think of the following possible picture of the upcoming year...

Phase One - this has already started, with BBM going cross platform, and getting a decent reception.

Phase Two - the cross platform app becomes fully functional, with video and audio and screen share for all, and wallpaper settings, and at least 150 quality emoticons.

Phase Three - skype and WhatsApp become pointless or outdated, and there is a steady mass movement to BBM as the world's primary IM app.

Final Phase - BBM Channels are up and running and monetised, and BBM becomes more valuable than the entire company is valued at present.

Is this possible in a year and a month? I think that it is, but have serious doubts as to whether BlackBerry will get things done properly, and quickly enough. Time really is important right now.

What worries me in this forum is that loads of people claim that BBM doesn't need wallpaper or more emoticons, etc. If this is BlackBerry's thinking I fear they will take this great opportunity to completely overturn their company's image in the upcoming year, and waste it. What do you guys think.

Lastly, what else can BBM become? I can see the potential for it to challenge the hegemony of Facebook within three years by expanding BBM profiles into personal, Facebook-like pages, BUT with privacy.

Thoughts?

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[hrim5493]

Well half my friends who have iphones get delayed bbm messages so we ended up going back to whatsapp....BB needs to fix these kind of issues before we ever think of BBM taking over any world

[scienceboy]

Entirely agree that it's possible, but as you suggest BB has to step up its game. It's a superior product and it has huge potential, but now is the time to roll out the rest of the features and to get Channels into the game.

[vrud]

Well half my friends who have iphones get delayed bbm messages so we ended up going back to whatsapp....BB needs to fix these kind of issues before we ever think of BBM taking over any world

Yes, that looks like a general problem with BlackBerry.
They push for a product even though it was not fully tested and supported.
BBM 4 All is a great concept but it needs a 3-6 months soak time in the wild to iron out major bugs.
Many tried it on the release day and were not impressed.
Likely BB addressed the issues in the newer app versions or infrastructure changes.
But how they can deliver this information now?
Lunch another BBM 4 All campaign?
It would be better if they released it with low profile announcements or maybe public beta first and once it's proven to be stable then make a push.

Same applies for BB10 platform - many here still mention poor battery life which was mostly fixed.

Perhaps, the injected $1B would give them some wiggle room.

[jojo beaconsfield]

They should,the hardest part of building a structure,is the foundation,there are all kind of things you have to think about.Kinds of things BBM has already in motion,the foundation is there and it's only a matter of assembling the precut pieces,but then you need a good roof ,and that's where the lawyers come in. BBM has so much potential,people loved it.

[BBUK13]

I really do hope they are able to get this right. The Z10 didn't sell, not because of quality, but because of the toxic halo over BlackBerry. BBM can fix this if it because a smash hit. If BBM adds real value to the company, it will take pressure off, increase share price, and bring people around to the brand again. This could be a huge year for BlackBerry in my view, but only if a number of crucial things are done right.

They really need to get the full BBM cross platform, and looking better than all competition in all areas. If they do that, and get BBM Channels going, there is no way the company will be lower than $30 by the end of the year. If Snapchat is worth $3 billion, BBM is worth far more, and the market is currently valuing it at $0. BBM really is the potential saviour of BlackBerry in the short term. Once stock price has been boosted, and brand rep restored, the hardware side will pick up, and enterprise will not suffer from uncertain companies feeling they have to look elsewhere.

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[eldricho]

It can be done, if they execute their plans on time and successfully

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[tnewton85]

Get ride of BBM Channels. Its pointless and boring.

Make it easier to add contacts you already have in your phonebook ie) Whatsapp

Marketing!


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[jojo beaconsfield]

I really do hope they are able to get this right. The Z10 didn't sell, not because of quality, but because of the toxic halo over BlackBerry. BBM can fix this if it because a smash hit. If BBM adds real value to the company, it will take pressure off, increase share price, and bring people around to the brand again. This could be a huge year for BlackBerry in my view, but only if a number of crucial things are done right.
Bang on
They really need to get the full BBM cross platform, and looking better than all competition in all areas. If they do that, and get BBM Channels going, there is no way the company will be lower than $30 by the end of the year. If Snapchat is worth $3 billion, BBM is worth far more, and the market is currently valuing it at $0. BBM really is the potential saviour of BlackBerry in the short term. Once stock price has been boosted, and brand rep restored, the hardware side will pick up, and enterprise will not suffer from uncertain companies feeling they have to look elsewhere.

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[jojo beaconsfield]

BANG ON!!!

[hrim5493]

Yeah, but they already might have done their damage to their new customers as they think BBM is not reliable

It can be done, if they execute their plans on time and successfully

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[BBUK13]

It is very, very important that BlackBerry get BBM right, and that they get it at its best as quickly as possible, but minor problems in the context of a broad, overwhelming success will not be remembered. The key is to create a genuine broad overwhelming success. I think most of us know what this will look like. Whether BlackBerry get this right is really not certain though, as they have gone against what most average folks have seen as obvious for the past year or so, and utterly failed to engage the public. We will see.

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[BBUK13]

I would also add that it's easy for forget that a huge amount of people, including Americans, haven't even heard of BBM. I've recently added a few Americans who honestly had never heard of it. They also had never heard of the new BlackBerry devices. This is obviously a sign of the awful marketing of BB10, but it also means that these people have not been affected by the negativity either.

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[stlabrat]

Get ride of BBM Channels. Its pointless and boring.

Make it easier to add contacts you already have in your phonebook ie) Whatsapp

Marketing!


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I like channel: well constructed informative and professionally done channel are candy to the eyes. Aircraft, space, playstation, just few examples. It is an easy way to keep informed daily for the development in the field of intrests. Although you need to get pass massive of not so good ones, like gold digger :-). If you find the good one, stick to it for a few weeks, the benefit is huge - for me at least.

[iN8ter]

No.

TBH, what BBM really needed to push adoption was a stable BB smartphone market share. IN markets where BB is stronger, BBM can thrive, but in other markets it will always play 4th fiddle to established IM services and those built-in to the other platforms.

At this point there isn't a way for them to break through, because BB cannot force people to install and continue to use their software or service.

If they had the marketshare they had in 2010, then they could have dominated it, because the amount of BB smartphones out there would have made using BBM a virtual no-brainer. That is no longer the case. The only reason to use BBM, is cause you want to use it, and that's not enough for most people.

People like to go where their friends are, not try to corral them all into using a foreign product.

[BBUK13]

No.

TBH, what BBM really needed to push adoption was a stable BB smartphone market share. IN markets where BB is stronger, BBM can thrive, but in other markets it will always play 4th fiddle to established IM services and those built-in to the other platforms.

At this point there isn't a way for them to break through, because BB cannot force people to install and continue to use their software or service.

If they had the marketshare they had in 2010, then they could have dominated it, because the amount of BB smartphones out there would have made using BBM a virtual no-brainer. That is no longer the case. The only reason to use BBM, is cause you want to use it, and that's not enough for most people.

People like to go where their friends are, not try to corral them all into using a foreign product.

I can't agree with this post. I don't think anyone is suggesting that BlackBerry force people. The point is to create a superior app that people will want to have because it is better than the one that currently have. BBM has this potential. Also, it is beginning to be preinstalled on Samsung devices in the near future, so I don't see why it will be so impossible.

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[iN8ter]

You're not getting what I'm saying.

Everyone uses Facebook, so their friends feel Compelled to be there. It's easier when 80pct of the people you know use something as opposed to 5pct when you're trying to justify managing yet another messaging service.

People are all about consolidation these days.

App superiority means squat if no one uses it. Google+ is better than Facebook but I'm not using it cause no one I know is there.

Sent from my Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 4

[BBUK13]

Right, but I think there is a mistake in thinking that everything is over, and the apps which dominate now will dominate forever. A full version of BBM going cross platform means that BBM is IM, plus Skype, plus screen sharing, plus Channels. No other app offers that. You are right: people like consolidation. Why have Skype, when you can just use BBM video? Why have the other calling app when you can use BBM audio? And no one has screen share that I know of...?

On top of all of this is the privacy of the BBM pin system. The question is whether BlackBerry can push BBM to that critical 'tipping point', where WhatsApp is obviously inferior to the masses, and people prefer BBM. It just don't think it makes sense to assume that people will stick with something forever just because they have it.

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[bombbas]

If I understand right BlackBerry want's that BBM is used by as much people as possible.
Why on earth they have this complex registration and invite system. If they really want to beat Whatsapp they need to use phone numbers as usernames and connect to other contacts by phone contacts.

Sent from my Q10 using Tapatalk 2

[anon62607]

my experience has been it is not easy to convince friends to try BlackBerry Messenger and even the ones that do don't particularly like it compared to other current messengers.

Since the BlackBerry Messenger for all / cross platform release I did pick up a few friends that have BlackBerry Messenger installed but not one of us uses it between us as our primary messenger.

[iN8ter]

Right, but I think there is a mistake in thinking that everything is over, and the apps which dominate now will dominate forever. A full version of BBM going cross platform means that BBM is IM, plus Skype, plus screen sharing, plus Channels. No other app offers that. You are right: people like consolidation. Why have Skype, when you can just use BBM video? Why have the other calling app when you can use BBM audio? And no one has screen share that I know of...?

On top of all of this is the privacy of the BBM pin system. The question is whether BlackBerry can push BBM to that critical 'tipping point', where WhatsApp is obviously inferior to the masses, and people prefer BBM. It just don't think it makes sense to assume that people will stick with something forever just because they have it.

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Hangouts offers all of that. To fully use it, you have Google+ anyways. Facebook has much of that. Skype does IM and much of all that. So does ChatOn and some other messengers.

People seem to think BBM is ahead of the curve when they are just arriving to 2010's feature set for the most part...

Sent from my Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 4

[BBUK13]

You prove my point. You have named a handful of things that do a handful of things. BBM has the potential to do all of those things, and do them all cross platform. Of course there are other apps. The question is which one can become dominant in all areas.

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[dayno25]

Well half my friends who have iphones get delayed bbm messages so we ended up going back to whatsapp....BB needs to fix these kind of issues before we ever think of BBM taking over any world

This.

I can't tell you how annoying this is, particularly me being the one who convinced them to download BBM and give it a go.

[parthokarki]

Hey girl, whats ur bbm pin sounds less creepy than hey girls whats your phone number

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[parthokarki]

This.

I can't tell you how annoying this is, particularly me being the one who convinced them to download BBM and give it a go.

I switched my frens and family too. But all is well and fast.

No issues!! Never heard of bbm problem.

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