1. Jay Hooker's Avatar
    They might be shooting themselves in the foot. The #1 reason the third world is so in love with Blackberry is the BBM, once you can buy an ultra cheap android phone and use BBM on it....who needs the Blackberry phone?.. Might hurt hardware sales in India, Indonesia Nigeria etc. places where BBM is the driving force for purchases of phones. They will need to figure out how to monetize the service at some point...
    anon(3956470) and AT_Nepal like this.
    05-14-13 10:17 AM
  2. RubberChicken76's Avatar
    They might be shooting themselves in the foot. The #1 reason the third world is so in love with Blackberry is the BBM,
    According to what data? i don't doubt people love BBM, but have you done extensive market research in that country to show the impact BBM has across million of people relative to - say - the keyboard? The brand? The removable battery? Notifications? Good price? Etc?

    I wish people would stop tossing stats without data. You could very well be right, but you're passing off your guess as a fact.

    Also, is BBM a primary reason for people buying BlackBerry 10 devices? Does it have the same weight in influencing a BB10 purchase as it did a BB7 purchase?
    05-14-13 10:19 AM
  3. Dapper37's Avatar
    BBM money, = western union
    BBM social, = Twitter, Tumbler and more!
    Advertising = $$$$$$$$$!!!
    Exactly how much do they make now on BBM???

    Posted via CB10
    Shanerredflag and eldricho like this.
    05-14-13 10:25 AM
  4. docgasberry's Avatar
    BBM money, = western union
    BBM social, = Twitter, Tumbler and more!
    Advertising = $$$$$$$$$!!!
    Exactly how much do they make now on BBM???

    Posted via CB10
    I say, BBM X-platform without the secure features of BBM, e.g. BBM Money.
    05-14-13 10:38 AM
  5. FunGuyLover's Avatar
    Why would they obliterate one of their biggest USPs?

    Dumb move! Stock market seems to see it that way...

    Posted via CB10
    anon(3956470) likes this.
    05-14-13 10:43 AM
  6. kevets's Avatar
    Can someone chop Thor's head into the Risky Business poster and add BlackBerry above Risky Business? That is what I was picturing when I saw this thread.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=risk...2F%3B214%3B317

    I also thought it read more like they'd be open to licensing BB10 to other devices, like how they rolled with the old iPAQ BlackBerrys.
    05-14-13 10:48 AM
  7. zifonicz's Avatar
    Well it is for quite a few people as all the bb10 owners that I know, and myself, only bought bb10 devices so that we could stay on bbm and have a better mobile as well ... most of my friends and students that have legacy blackberries, were just waiting for something like this so that their upgrade could be to android
    05-14-13 11:16 AM
  8. Shlooky's Avatar
    Well the rumors were right! I remember a year ago people wanted BBM to be cross platform, here we are :-)
    Either that or Thor is seeing the writing on the wall regarding handset sales and thinks of making money on services instead.
    05-14-13 12:51 PM
  9. CarFan's Avatar
    I'm loving this! I'm hoping BBM channels will be a effective alternative for Twitter, which has slowly evolved into a incredible chaotic mess. The irony is that I used to be a diehard BB user for many years. (8830>9530>9630>9930) All that time, I never used BBM. Now that I'm a iphone 5 user, I can't wait to give BBM Channels a whirl.
    05-14-13 11:42 PM
  10. Acumenight's Avatar
    They might be shooting themselves in the foot. The #1 reason the third world is so in love with Blackberry is the BBM, once you can buy an ultra cheap android phone and use BBM on it....who needs the Blackberry phone?.. Might hurt hardware sales in India, Indonesia Nigeria etc. places where BBM is the driving force for purchases of phones. They will need to figure out how to monetize the service at some point...
    Wrong. People in emerging markets (third world is so not pc...) get BlackBerry for the cheap/limited data plans through BIS mainly.

    Posted via Z10
    05-14-13 11:59 PM
  11. mrfreetruth's Avatar
    Looks like blackberry is on the right track. You have alot of paid trolls on CB all crying how it's a bad idea. It's so obvious who these trolls are and I don;t understand why CB allows them to post here?
    Acumenight likes this.
    05-15-13 12:03 AM
  12. AT_Nepal's Avatar
    According to what data? i don't doubt people love BBM, but have you done extensive market research in that country to show the impact BBM has across million of people relative to - say - the keyboard? The brand? The removable battery? Notifications? Good price? Etc?


    I wish people would stop tossing stats without data. You could very well be right, but you're passing off your guess as a fact.

    Also, is BBM a primary reason for people buying BlackBerry 10 devices? Does it have the same weight in influencing a BB10 purchase as it did a BB7 purchase?
    I live in Asia, and I can tell you that youngsters here love bbm because its free messaging which they do all the time. if they have a change to migrate to another phone that also allows the same messaging but also more apps for cheaper (android), then why would they say?
    xxjavaxx2001 likes this.
    05-15-13 12:06 AM
  13. Pavel_ru's Avatar
    They might be shooting themselves in the foot. The #1 reason the third world is so in love with Blackberry is the BBM, once you can buy an ultra cheap android phone and use BBM on it....who needs the Blackberry phone?.. Might hurt hardware sales in India, Indonesia Nigeria etc. places where BBM is the driving force for purchases of phones. They will need to figure out how to monetize the service at some point...
    BB is not interesting in selling OS7 devices already. They also have entry level Q5.
    05-15-13 02:22 AM
  14. Jay Hooker's Avatar
    Seriously? Anyone that isn't drinking the Kool AId is a paid troll? I was just pointing out a valid concern that has subsequently been reiterated by multiple people including customers in emerging markets. I'm currently long BBRY and have been for a few months. However as any smart investor does I'm continuing to evaluate my position.
    a1s2d3f4g5 likes this.
    05-15-13 10:25 AM
  15. z10fido's Avatar
    I literally am leaving BlackBerry for good as soon as i get bbm on my iPhone. Since 2010 literally the only reason I have my BlackBerry is for bbm. And I would have gladly paid 1 dollar. 20 50 u name it to get bbm on ios. I hope there is a strategy behind free bbm for ios and android.

    Posted via CB10
    05-15-13 11:17 AM
  16. Shanerredflag's Avatar
    I came from iphone...changed everything to their system...drove me nuts that you need a certain reader born this or a certain Web browser for that...oh, sorry, file not supported....wish you luck.

    Posted via CB10
    05-15-13 12:10 PM
  17. z10fido's Avatar
    I've been using I phones since 2007. I was one of those bbry for email and bbm iPhone for rest. Always Carried both

    Posted via CB10
    05-15-13 01:29 PM
  18. MarsupilamiX's Avatar
    A lot of people seem to be confused by the move.
    For me it is pretty clear though.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_(application)
    "Market share As of November, 2012, Line claimed more than 74 million users worldwide.[10] As of January 18, 2013, Line had reached 100 million users worldwide and reportedly was gaining about 400,000 users daily.[11] As of 2 May 2013, Line had reached 150 million users worldwide.[12] [13]"

    http://www.techinasia.com/blackberry...going-to-lose/
    "According to a report from Arbitron Mobile, Line is currently the number one messaging app in Indonesia. While WeChat is gaining around 90,000 new users by the day in the country thanks to its new national TV ads. KakaoTalk, meanwhile, recently reported that it had increased its user numbers by 288 percent from January to February. Most of my friends, who are mostly in the middle-income bracket, don't really care about the new Blackberry 10 handset. They prefer other platforms like Android and iOS. The middle class segment of society represents quite a lot of people who have considerable buying power.

    ?)The allure of Android
    So what will happen?
    The new Blackberry Z10 in Indonesia is battling against the Samsung Galaxy S3 (soon to be the S4, which will be launched later this month) and iPhone 5 for the country's wealthier users. But they're the minority of the populace here anyway. The majority of the population, who are in the lower-income demographic,would opt to purchase more affordable Android devices because they see that the OS, together with its apps' ecosystem and games, outperforms Blackberry handsets in the same price range. Or perhaps they'll buy older Blackberry models since there's nothing for BB10 available at the usual cheap prices of below $200. These people, targeted by national TV ads by Line and WeChat, will start to use those apps and find them more fun (so long as they switch to using those apps on Android or iPhone) than BBM."

    http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/11/indonesia-tv-ads/
    "Indonesia is becoming one of the most important battlegrounds for players like WeChat and Line?and TV ads are a surprising but effective part of their artillery. Though the country currently has one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in Southeast Asia, a large and youthful population (27% of its 242.3 million people is 14 or younger), and rapid mobile Internet usage growthmeans there is plenty of potential there for tech companies"

    http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-rel...192939591.html
    ^ Some numbers for line use.

    Meant to illustrate that a long term user base erosion is already in place in these emerging countries.

    Used to show that BlackBerry would have lost more customers anyway, if they did not innovate.
    With Line and the other chat apps out there it was only a question of when BBM will become irrelevant in these countries as well. At least they have a fighting chance now.

    I may also add, that what we see now in emerging countries, with BlackBerry becoming more irrelevant, is something we already saw happening in "the first world". The scenario is pretty much the same. And the only thing that will give BlackBerry the possibility to not face irrelevancy in these countries as well, will be a combination of an OS that people don't hate and a good ecosystem.

    That is BB10. This OS is the only thing that can attract long term sales. Not BBM. What also has to be said, is that BlackBerry apparently doesn't even try, to compete with 100$ Android devices on their new QNX Hardware.

    Why BlackBerry had to do something:

    BIS would have be gone anyway, as we know it. The trend for BlackBerry to become less and less important was set 3-5 years ago. There was no reason to think, that emerging markets would have been able to save BlackBerry, through BIS revenue.

    In sociology, we have something that is called imitation. And the emerging markets mimics the "first world" considering smartphones. They lag behind because of the financial limitations, but how they consume smartphones, is more or less like we do it.

    There was not one single reason, that one should have thought, that service revenue will not decline significantly from BIS, even though BlackBerry would not have introduced BIS-less QNX and would not have introduced cross - plattform BBM. What some users see as a serious threat right now, was a problem since the beginning. Namely: consumers walking away from BBRY, even though there is BIS and even though there exists BBM.

    There was no way, like in, completely impossible, as in, it will never happen, that BBRY would have been able to hold, (and that point now tends to - infinity) or gain subscribers in the long run, through the old strategy. In one single year, with the immense YoY growth that the other messenger apps have, BBM would have become irrelevant. 1 single year. And that was/is the situation that BBRY tries to circumvent.

    They try to be innovative as much as they can right now. BBM is part of that. And BlackBerryOS 10 as well. BlackBerry would have had no fighting chance at all, with a locked down BBM in emerging markets, because the prices for plans and phones, are on a race to the bottom.

    I see no really big negative points. The only thing, that would have been a real disaster, is to not have done anything. History repeats itself for BlackBerry in emerging markets. They tried to get out of that vicious circle of fate with QNX, now an open BBM as well, and soon their own social network. People can think about that, what ever they want. But it is a reality that for BlackBerry, the biggest risk was not to change.

    Some people illustrated the factor of imitation, when buying economical goods pretty well.

    As a general rule, one could say that people always try to buy, what the economical class above them buys, but since they lack economical ressources, it will not have the same quality most of the times. (A quadcore Android phone for 200$ from a chinese knock off manufacturer comes to mind.)

    A simple exemple would be TVs, especially flat screens. In the middle of the last decade, we saw that more and more people bought big flat screens. The effect of imitation played a big role, because wealthy people, the aspiring class so to speak, bought them. To be like the rich, you need a flatscreen TV. Thus a new status symbol was created.

    Another prominent exemple would be the fridge/dish washer/laundry machine. At a certain point though, when these goods become a commodity, you need a new status symbol.

    Also, licensing QNX is something that gained some probability:
    http://247wallst.com/2013/05/15/sams...ndroid-market/
    "The data comes from the latest research by Strategy Analytics and reflects profits generated in the first quarter of 2013. Of profit totaling $5.3 billion, Samsung takes an estimated $5.1 billion, with LG Electronics capturing about $100 million and the rest divided among all other Android phone makers.

    Not only does Samsung beat every other smartphone maker in taking profit from Android, Strategy Analytics? executive director notes an even more glaring note:

    We believe Samsung generates more revenue and profit from the Android platform than Google does. Samsung has strong market power and it may use this position to influence the future direction of the Android ecosystem."

    Posted via CB10
    05-18-13 01:09 AM
  19. xxjavaxx2001's Avatar
    I live in Asia, and I can tell you that youngsters here love bbm because its free messaging which they do all the time. if they have a change to migrate to another phone that also allows the same messaging but also more apps for cheaper (android), then why would they say?
    I agree with this.. i have so many friends that dont dump their curves because of bbm. Once they realize that bbm is available an other android and apple devices they would automatically ditch their legacy devices and go with the competitor.. the people who already have Blackberry 10 most probably wont make the switch.. but those who have legacys and are app hungry people (no great apps on legacy devices) would for sure make the switch.. i cant attest to the Philippines market.

    Posted via CB10
    05-18-13 01:44 AM
  20. MarsupilamiX's Avatar
    I agree with this.. i have so many friends that dont dump their curves because of bbm. Once they realize that bbm is available an other android and apple devices they would automatically ditch their legacy devices and go with the competitor.. the people who already have Blackberry 10 most probably wont make the switch.. but those who have legacys and are app hungry people (no great apps on legacy devices) would for sure make the switch.. i cant attest to the Philippines market.

    Posted via CB10
    I know that some people have the problem that they do not think long term wise.

    How long do you think that BlackBerry would have been able to hold onto these consumers?
    (Hint: with the Adoption rate of other messengers, and the influx of 100$ Android devices, at maximum about one year.
    And the funny thing is, that BlackBerry is already extremely late for bringing their messenger to the other platforms. It was a now or never scenario for them.)

    Posted via CB10
    peter9477 likes this.
    05-18-13 02:04 AM

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