BlackBerry sees funny side of revival fight
By Hannah Kuchler in San Francisco
Bankers could soon be celebrating their latest deals by sending each other emoticons and virtual hearts, as BlackBerry bets that its predominately corporate clients will pay for cartoon stickers popular with Asian teenagers.
In the smartphone maker’s latest attempt to revive its fortunes, BlackBerry plans to sell virtual goods to users of its BBM messaging service, which until now has been prized more for its strong security than cutesy cartoon features.
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BlackBerry is not the first western messaging company to consider using direct sales to users, rather than advertising, to generate revenue.
Twitter’s head of revenue, Adam Bain, told the Financial Times last month that the company, and the rest of the US internet sector, should take inspiration from Asian business models that convince users to pay for services.
Snapchat, the ephemeral messaging service, has called Tencent a “role model” for the company, and while WhatsApp does not yet sell stickers, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and chief executive, has said advertising is not necessarily the best way to make money from the service.