[Majestic Lion]

Any argument against exclusivity immediately fails when your reasoning hinges upon market share. Market share comes and goes. With that said, that's a known principle...so this is just another in a long line of well-intentioned threads meant to devalue the perception of the average reader toward BBM(or BB in general) via thesis-length verbiage.


No thank you.

[BlackBerry Guy]

At the end of the day, BBM is just a fully featured instant messenger client exclusive to BlackBerry devices. What made it special initially was it offered a way for BlackBerry users to bypass carriers and their SMS charges. You will see more challengers to this as time goes on (iMessage, Chat On, Whatsapp etc). Right now, arguably they're not as polished as BBM, but the competition is not going to sit still. BBM has the opportunity to be the best IM client on any platform if RIM were to take it cross platform. This window is not going to last forever though, as the competition improves their own IM services. RIM can always keep certain features as BlackBerry exclusives to sweeten the deal for people to buy their own devices.

[qbnkelt]

So far, BBM Connected has been a total waste of time. What, so my app can "announce itself" (spam) my BBM list, and update my BBM profile constantly?

Just because it's not used properly by some doesn't mean it hasn't got value.
Most of my family contacts who used BBM are gone, but the few that remain get updates when I update my FB. I've got one contact who will not use FB so he gets my FB as BBM updates.
It's added some convenience.
The one I haven't tried yet is BeWeather integration with BBM.


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

[belfastdispatcher]

So far, BBM Connected has been a total waste of time. What, so my app can "announce itself" (spam) my BBM list, and update my BBM profile constantly?

You can turn those off easy in BBM settings.

BBM connected apps allows me to play Battles or other games with my niece and also allows me to tweet and show it on my BBM profile in one easy step.

Offenders (usually free apps) can easily be disconnected from BBM.

[anon(1464249)]

I am a supporter for BBM on a diversity on platforms.
I started a thread for it a while ago, and i'm including the link in my post for full disclosure, it should be technically possible to do this fairly quickly,
create platform specific apps and let those connect to an API layer before flowing through the NOC.

http://forums.crackberry.com/general...kberry-741010/

[Qaxl]

I understand what the OP is saying, esp the point about exclusivity having meaning only with large market share, and also that RIM should make BlackBerry 10 good enough to sell without having to rely upon BBM as its saviour.

That being said however, i also believe that opening up BBM to other platforms just gives me one more reason to get a competing device.

I believe RIM should just BUY Whatsapp!
It is by far the most successful, and widely spread of the cross platform messengers. With it RIM can still keep BBM as a BlackBerry device exclusive, and have the new acquired and renamed Whatsapp to work cross platform and give it the ability to talk to BBM too. then Whatsapp to Whatsapp communication can be standard IM, and if u have a BBM contact on your list, you can communicate in more ways with added features, which could lure them in to hop onboard the BBM wagon !

This way you will also get the whole world using a RIM product for IM and keep BBM Exclusive too. (as an added bonus you get to take out one of your biggest competitors out of the game)

[adamschuetze]

Any argument against exclusivity immediately fails when your reasoning hinges upon market share. Market share comes and goes. With that said, that's a known principle...so this is just another in a long line of well-intentioned threads meant to devalue the perception of the average reader toward BBM(or BB in general) via thesis-length verbiage.


No thank you.

Yes, market share does come and go. The problem is, now it's gone, and it's not going to come back to the extent that BlackBerry enjoyed in the past. Never again will rim enjoy 80% market share in North America. It's not even realistic. My argument hinges on market share, to be sure. It makes sense for Apple to have exclusive Facetime access, because iPhones are everywhere, and Facetime (to talk to all their friends) is an actual selling feature. The same cannot be said for BlackBerry.

It is time to embrace a market with many choices, and become interoperable.

[belfastdispatcher]

Yes, market share does come and go. The problem is, now it's gone, and it's not going to come back to the extent that BlackBerry enjoyed in the past. Never again will rim enjoy 80% market share in North America. It's not even realistic. My argument hinges on market share, to be sure. It makes sense for Apple to have exclusive Facetime access, because iPhones are everywhere, and Facetime (to talk to all their friends) is an actual selling feature. The same cannot be said for BlackBerry.

It is time to embrace a market with many choices, and become interoperable.

Regardless of market share, RIM now has more active users then ever, so what's the problem? RIM had a big slice of a small piece, now it has a small slice of a HUGE pie. Marketshare is not a constant, it's constantly growing. So is Rim's user base.

[adamschuetze]

Regardless of market share, RIM now has more active users then ever, so what's the problem? RIM had a big slice of a small piece, now it has a small slice of a HUGE pie. Marketshare is not a constant, it's constantly growing. So is Rim's user base.

Yes, but I don't believe it will ever grow again to the point where you can sell the platform based on a closed-platform feature. The old "if you want BBM, buy a BlackBerry" just doesn't fly.

[DenverRalphy]

Regardless of market share, RIM now has more active users then ever, so what's the problem? RIM had a big slice of a small piece, now it has a small slice of a HUGE pie. Marketshare is not a constant, it's constantly growing. So is Rim's user base.

The difference though, is that back in the day, if you knew somebody else with a smartphone that could benefit from instant messaging, chances were incredibly high that they were using a Blackberry so it wasn't an issue. Today is different. When a smartphone user meets a new contact, chances are significantly higher that they're using a different platform and thus are not available for communication via BBM.

And too, the enterprise market has been adopting multi platform solutions, so BBM (which was inherently designed for enterprise use) loses effectiveness there as well.

[kraski]

Regardless of market share, RIM now has more active users then ever, so what's the problem? RIM had a big slice of a small piece, now it has a small slice of a HUGE pie. Marketshare is not a constant, it's constantly growing. So is Rim's user base.

I agree. And there's a few other points in favor of cross platform BBM. It could be a source of income for the BBM app itself. Those users would need to add BIS, which the carriers would obviously pass the cost along -- another source of revenue for RIM. If the non-BB implementation is good enough, it could help interest in BBs grow again, especially if the new BBM includes some cloud like qualities so BBM users can pass documents with the famous RIM compression. If users see how much BB can save them on data costs, that's a nudge to actually get a BB to get the full capabilities.

[RECOOL]

Yeah it should go cross platform somehow just not on other phones natively.

My take for cross platform non BB users they will have to go through a rim web site.We kind of pay for BBM if you think about it so why should others get it free??
I dont see many paying to IM when whatsapp is around.

BBM alone is enough for some people to buy a BB its a perk of being in the BB crew sharing BBM with others would be hard to take.But If its to go cross platform people of other phone makes need to go through a website and get a strip done version of BBM same if it moves to a desktop inviroment.

Unless these guys pay for BBM the only other option is through a website with stripped version no BBM video and any new feature on thats added to BB10 version.

Its a tough subject.

[belfastdispatcher]

Yes, but I don't believe it will ever grow again to the point where you can sell the platform based on a closed-platform feature. The old "if you want BBM, buy a BlackBerry" just doesn't fly.

What do you mean grow again? When RIM had a big marketshare they probably had 40 million or less active subscribers. Now they have 80 million as we all know.

So if they could with 40 why can't they with 80 million?

[BlackBerry Guy]

I can certainly understand why some would want BBM to remain a BlackBerry exclusive. But the the smartphone landscape has changed considerably over the last 5-6 years when BlackBerry first rose to consumer prominence. What was once unique is now common - BBM's core features can and have already been duplicated by competitors. RIM should be bold (haha) and move to evolve BBM in light of the new breed of smartphones competition, much like they're doing with BB10. Part of that evolution would be taking it cross platform (though perhaps keeping a few tricks for it's own device users). Or they can sit tight and watch things go flying by them in the smartphone messenger scene, much as they did with BBOS 6 and 7.

[belfastdispatcher]

The real problem is nobody will pay for it.

[kbz1960]

I don't think many will be willing to pay even more a month for an IM app like BBM. I know I won't, 1 time charge, maybe. But when there are so many free ones meh.

[BlackBerry Guy]

What do you mean grow again? When RIM had a big marketshare they probably had 40 million or less active subscribers. Now they have 80 million as we all know.

So if they could with 40 why can't they with 80 million?

It's not so much the 40 vs 80 million BlackBerry subscribers, it's the rest that are not on BlackBerry that needs to be looked at. I think the big difference is, years ago we still had a lot of feature phone users, whereas as a great number of smartphone users at the time had BlackBerries and there wasn't much in the way of alternatives.

Now the world is moving away from the feature phone, there are more smartphone users, and those users are spread out amongst the various brands and OSs.

The real problem is nobody will pay for it.

True. A one time fee may be feasible. But a subscription service likely won't fly.

[RECOOL]

No one time fee as some of us will be paying through are data and contract plans however long it maybe 1 year-2 year.
Telling me these other guys can use BBM after 1 time payment naahh that dont sit to well with people paying monthly no way..

I think got to take the desktop install app and sign in website apporach strip the experinece down give them basics no new features from BB10 version.

[spektakle]

At the end of the day, BBM is just a fully featured instant messenger client exclusive to BlackBerry devices. What made it special initially was it offered a way for BlackBerry users to bypass carriers and their SMS charges. You will see more challengers to this as time goes on (iMessage, Chat On, Whatsapp etc). Right now, arguably they're not as polished as BBM, but the competition is not going to sit still. BBM has the opportunity to be the best IM client on any platform if RIM were to take it cross platform. This window is not going to last forever though, as the competition improves their own IM services. RIM can always keep certain features as BlackBerry exclusives to sweeten the deal for people to buy their own devices.

This is spot on and exactly my view.

The opinion to keep it only on blackberry as a means to convince people to get a blackberry is moot otherwise people would have stayed. That ship has sailed and more and more companies are introducing BYOD. Cross platform apps are the now and BBM can still dominate. Allow ios and android a basic stripped down messenger for $1 or two and they stand to make millions.

[kbz1960]

No one time fee as some of us will be paying through are data and contract plans however long it maybe 1 year-2 year.
Telling me these other guys can use BBM after 1 time payment naahh that dont sit to well with people paying monthly no way..

I think got to take the desktop install app and sign in website apporach strip the experinece down give them basics no new features from BB10 version.

I don't know about you but I pay the same as I would for an iphone or android. I pay nothing extra for BBM.

[Laura Knotek]

I don't know about you but I pay the same as I would for an iphone or android. I pay nothing extra for BBM.

There are some carriers that offer cheap "social plans" that include BBM/Facebook without the rest of BIS.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

[pantlesspenguin]

I know I'm in the minority...but I'd pay for BBM use on other platforms. Heck, I'm pretty much paying for it already since I have a phone line dedicated to my 9700 and my usage of that is about 90% BBM.

[Plazmic Flame]

I'm very surprised that the poll is pretty much dead even. If not cross platform, I think at the very least, BBM should become available on desktops (Windows, Mac, Linux). Similar to iMessage on Mac or Hookt Messenger.

[biggulpseh]

Without going cross-platform, BBM will continue to be overtaken by other cross-platform messengers, including the infamous Skype, which chances are BlackBerry 10 won't even have. The number of BlackBerry users in North America is so small that BBM no longer remains a selling feature for BlackBerry. Instead, the lack of Skype would be a huge blow for potential buyers as it's incredibly important for many when choosing their next smartphone. If BBM goes cross-platform, they can release it with special features exclusive to BlackBerry owners (screen/document sharing, etc.), such that the BlackBerry BBM experience remains the best of all platforms, yet would provide a cross-platform messaging and video-chat alternative to Skype that could potentially be more popular due to its brand awareness.

Think about it, we all know that with the coming of BlackBerry 10, we'll no longer be using PINs in order to add contacts on BBM. In the future this will be handled with the whole BlackBerry ID system. If RIM required BBM users of ALL platforms to require creating a BlackBerry ID, you're taking the first step in order to get them into the BlackBerry ecosystem. If they ever decide to get a BlackBerry device, their contacts will already be ready to go when they sign-in with their BlackBerry account.

[adamschuetze]

I know this whole thing is quite controversial, but there are points both for and against, which is why I brought it up. I hope that these points can be fleshed out more thoroughly, and a real consensus obtained.

But in the end, no matter what happens, I have high hopes for a BBM client on the PC. It would be tied to your PIN/BBID, so it wouldn't be a new account, it would be an exclusive for existing BB owners.