[Mr_F]

What if you have a iPhone and all of your Mum, Dad and/or Sister decided to get an BlackBerry or Android device? Would facetime still be so great?

If I had no (or only a few) other people to Facetime with then no, it would not - Not for me anyway.

[darkmanx2g]

Except with the iphone you can still use cross platform video chat. Bbm was relevant when blackberry was at its peak when the messaging was superior. But platforms have caught up and offer a more robust ecosystem. BBM was the last selling point until the mass exodus of users. What's the use of BBM when nobody is in your contact list.

[Rello]

Except with the iphone you can still use cross platform video chat. Bbm was relevant when blackberry was at its peak when the messaging was superior. But platforms have caught up and offer a more robust ecosystem. BBM was the last selling point until the mass exodus of users. What's the use of BBM when nobody is in your contact list.

Agree

This is why it soooo puzzling as to why RIM never built out bbm to its full potential years ago, back when everyone still had a BB. It wouldve made it even harder to leave BB. What RIM needs to do now is really transform BBM into a social network with PLENTY of features. That way even though people won't have any/many contacts upon picking up their BB10 device, as BB10 picks up steam (if it does), it will give RIM a huge advantage and really get people talking about their products again.

[Mr_F]

Agree

This is why it soooo puzzling as to why RIM never built out bbm to its full potential years ago, back when everyone still had a BB. It wouldve made it even harder to leave BB. What RIM needs to do now is really transform BBM into a social network with PLENTY of features. That way even though people won't have any/many contacts upon picking up their BB10 device, as BB10 picks up steam (if it does), it will give RIM a huge advantage and really get people talking about their products again.

I agree with both of you.

I too am puzzled by the lack of development with BBM - especially when RIM itself acknowledges its importance. The past is the past though - and we can only try and put things in place that will limit the damage of another 'mass exodus'. I think the two suggestions that I made would definitely help. Both Twitter and Facebook auto-suggest people that you can follow/befriend when you sign up. They also allow you to search by username. I saw a video stating BBM10 will do a similar auto-suggest with your phonebook, but I'm not 100% confident it will be all that effective. What sort of features do you think are needed?

Here's the BBM recommend thing (2 min - 3min45s) + (4m45s - 5m45s)

[Syrous44]

One feature that would be nice is making a hub like function in bbm itself so no matter what your friends are using for an im, video, voice message service or SMS you can talk to them through bbm. This is providing you have all the corresponding I'm client's installed on your device, where everything is routed through bbm. Kind of what they tried with bbm 6.0, but more entrenched.

So in the end you have your main notification hub. Then within that you have the bbm im hub. No more multitasking needed to keep in contact with all your contacts no matter whats being used.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Mr_F]

One feature that would be nice is making a hub like function in bbm itself so no matter what your friends are using for an im, video, voice message service or SMS you can talk to them through bbm. This is providing you have all the corresponding I'm client's installed on your device, where everything is routed through bbm. Kind of what they tried with bbm 6.0, but more entrenched.

So in the end you have your main notification hub. Then within that you have the bbm im hub. No more multitasking needed to keep in contact with all your contacts no matter whats being used.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

I'm pretty sure you'll be able to do all of that from the main messages hub - so it will only ever be one gesture away. Similar to how 'compose other' works now in 'Messages' on OS7.1

[anon(4018671)]

Apparently BBM is coming to the Desktop next year according to a tweet. Someone posted in News and rumors but that didn't attract much attention???

[Jaji_vzw8330]

Best instant messenger BY FAR. Too bad not one of my contacts still uses a BB. :/

[bullockss]

Except with the iphone you can still use cross platform video chat. Bbm was relevant when blackberry was at its peak when the messaging was superior. But platforms have caught up and offer a more robust ecosystem. BBM was the last selling point until the mass exodus of users. What's the use of BBM when nobody is in your contact list.

You mean nobody in the states uses BBM. In Canada plenty of people do. Personally i have 300 people on BBM. Also in the UK tons of people use BBM as well. BB is dead in the USA so obviously BBM is not popular.

[nerdydaddyo]

BBM would be even more relevant if RIM would allow it to be used on a PlayBook WITHOUT BlackBerry Bridge, as in over Wi-Fi. A good company is willing to take losses in some places to make gains in others, and not worrying about charging for BBM services equals more users spreading their saved money around on apps. Open up BBM to ALL BB devices and you won't be able to keep the bandwidth down. It should stay private though; only on BB devices. I mean if Apple has Face Time, we should have something exclusive too.

[BB_Bmore]

BBM is coming to PlayBook so RIM will allow it. Yes it has been said BBM is coming to PlayBook.

Sent from my BlackBerry by Choice using Tapatalk

[FunktasticLucky]

They have already stated that the way bbm worked in the back end was the reason that bbm wasn't on the PlayBook. They had no way to handle bbm over multiple devices. So what use would bbm be if you had a separate account for your phone and then your PlayBook? They said this is all straightened out by using your BBID instead of just pin. Which I can believe seeing how everything with rim has been pushing the move to bbid. Even beta zone just made me merge my account with my bbid and that is now my login.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

What worries me is all of the long gone messaging and social networking options. ICQ, AOL, my space, etc. These were all popular at one time. A instant messaging or social networking tool has never made a comeback in its amount of users. Now there's obviously a lot more to blackberry than BBM but I'm having trouble envisioning a world where BBM has made a comeback and everyone is using it again.

[Mr_F]

You mean nobody in the states uses BBM. In Canada plenty of people do. Personally i have 300 people on BBM. Also in the UK tons of people use BBM as well. BB is dead in the USA so obviously BBM is not popular.

That's the biggest conundrum with BBM - there are 60+ million active BBM users dotted all over the World with no native way to connect to each other. What use are all those users if you or I can't personally connect with them (due to us living in different countries)? I think RIM needs to address this key issue, otherwise we'll continue to see this simultaneous 'boom & bust' in terms of it rapidly growing in some countries whilst fading into irrelevance in others.

[samdskgs]

I totally agree with the celebrity aspect of your post. There are soo many celebrities that still use Blackberry and since most of my friends and colleagues have migrated to the iPhone, I don't get any use out of BBM. And BBM going cross-platform would be an interesting idea, not quite sure why people reject it so quickly. Don't really see the harm in it, it IS one of the best messaging systems, and I feel people would leave Whatsapp for it, etc...

[Mr_F]

They have already stated that the way bbm worked in the back end was the reason that bbm wasn't on the PlayBook. They had no way to handle bbm over multiple devices. So what use would bbm be if you had a separate account for your phone and then your PlayBook? They said this is all straightened out by using your BBID instead of just pin. Which I can believe seeing how everything with rim has been pushing the move to bbid. Even beta zone just made me merge my account with my bbid and that is now my login.

I think the shift to using a BBID over a PIN gives RIM an amazing opportunity to bring in the back-end BBM changes that I feel are needed. Usernames are entered when setting up a new BBID - and are currently used when you submit reviews to BlackBerry World. I'd guess that the same usernames will be used for the Games app in BB10 also. That all seems like a move in the right direction but I'd like to see RIM go further and allow BBM users to search for new contacts via username. It could be the much needed bridge to linking users that live in different countries or simply different parts of the same country. A way to better connect the 60+ million.

[Mr_F]

What worries me is all of the long gone messaging and social networking options. ICQ, AOL, my space, etc. These were all popular at one time. A instant messaging or social networking tool has never made a comeback in its amount of users. Now there's obviously a lot more to blackberry than BBM but I'm having trouble envisioning a world where BBM has made a comeback and everyone is using it again.

You make a very good point - and one that I hadn't really thought about. I do think BBM is slightly different though - in the sense that it's always on and doesn't require a log in or anything. I don't think it's over-simplistic to say that if you own a BB, you're pretty much guaranteed to use BBM - especially when there are 60+ million active BBM users amongst 80+ million BlackBerry subscribers. That's quite a high usage rate - so I think it's safe to assume that if RIM can increase its overall user base in terms of phones sold - then the number of BBM users should grow as well.

[BBThemes]

What worries me is all of the long gone messaging and social networking options. ICQ, AOL, my space, etc. These were all popular at one time. A instant messaging or social networking tool has never made a comeback in its amount of users. Now there's obviously a lot more to blackberry than BBM but I'm having trouble envisioning a world where BBM has made a comeback and everyone is using it again.

while you have a point, this is totally different for at least 2 reasons
1) none of the `failed` IM apps was ever a native app/platform, it was always an extra thing to download
2) BBM hasnt lost (in a net sense) any userbase. sure its lost users but its active userbase has only ever been rising, so `comeback` probably isnt the right term.

[philchang]

I think BBM is vitally important in emergency situations as detailed here... While Quakes Shake Virginia And Calls Fail, BBM Reliably Holds Communication | BlackBerrySync.com - BlackBerry News and Reviews

Now that I am forced to share data plans I will be switching my wife to my old blackberry 9930, primarily for bbm.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

while you have a point, this is totally different for at least 2 reasons
1) none of the `failed` IM apps was ever a native app/platform, it was always an extra thing to download
2) BBM hasnt lost (in a net sense) any userbase. sure its lost users but its active userbase has only ever been rising, so `comeback` probably isnt the right term.

The amount of users hasnt gone down but i mean i really cant see it making a first world, mainstream, % of smartphone users increase. People in the countries with lower gdp per capita often look tovamerica to see what is cool. If its not on the forefront we msy have a longterm problem

[Mr_F]

People in the countries with lower gdp per capita often look tovamerica to see what is cool. If its not on the forefront we msy have a longterm problem

Whilst I'd agree with a lot of what you've said - I don't think the exodus will be on the same scale that was witnessed a few years back. BB10 now offers a clear upgrade path to existing BBOS users. People that may be hooked on BBM (but annoyed at other areas of owning a BB) now have a more balanced choice in terms of hardware and OS capabilities. When the exodus started this choice was non-existent - it was either a shiny new phone with lots of apps or stick with 2 year old hardware and no apps. The decision to switch was a no-brainer for many. BB10 changes that dynamic somewhat. I firmly believe that the mass exodus we've all witnessed wouldn't have been as large had RIM been quicker to react/adapt. BB10 launching in emerging markets could be the thing that prevents history from repeating itself.

[cfx_will]

Hi cfx_will. I don't think I've heard of that 'look through profile album' that you mentioned. What is it? Sounds interesting

Actually, you know what, I just spent the last hour trying to find a reference and I can't. Now I realize I might have misinterpreted something along the way.
I think I saw the same BBin video that you posted about BBM GROUPS and how there are different pictures and you can comment on them.
But still, having more than one profile picture would be a good idea on BBM for individual users as well.

[Rootbrian]

It's still relevant to me.

[southlander]

BBM is coming to PlayBook so RIM will allow it. Yes it has been said BBM is coming to PlayBook.

Sent from my BlackBerry by Choice using Tapatalk

Yes. But all PlayBooks or just ones that have dataplans? That's the question.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 using Tapatalk

[SirJes]

It amazes me that as long as something isnt popular with the "USA population...its suddenly irrelevant or makes no sense....its still very popular in countries such as India, Nigeria,the entire Caribbean, i for one find it very useful seeing that im going to college in new york and most of my contacts are from trinidad where blackberry is growing. im sure in the mentioned countries their probably saying the same thing people are saying about blackberry in USA, i can say for sure its being said in the Caribbean.