[svelt]

I've only ever had around 10 since I got a BB in 2008, but it held steady. Sometimes one leaves and I meet someone else with a BB, but most people I know have had iphones for years now. It's unfortunate, but BBM definitely trumps every option I've seen for a messaging app, it's just completely seamless and flawless. Most of my contacts are on WhatsApp but it really doesn't compare.

[nano404]

I'm at 57. All people I know. I can get to 70 and still know everyone. I don't want that much people though.

BlackBerrys and BBM are still popular. Except in the U.S., I guess.

[bungaboy]

My girlfriend was the last person I had on BBM, she moved on to the Samsung S3, so now I have no BBM Contacts.

Have you considered using eHarmony?

[bungaboy]

For all those folks who's friends have left the BBM world you can always . . . . call them with the same device. The sky ain't fallin'. No need of Chicken Little dancing. LoL

[finfin]

I do tend to use whatsapp as it's cross platform but bbm is still in use. Viva la BBM!!

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

[_StephenBB81]

What's wrong with Whatsapp? It's not a battery hog.

I use WhatsApp for BlackBerry

Whatsapp scans my addressbook that is what is wrong with it


I installed it to do a groupchat test with people who I am in a BBM group with comparing multiple phones but once I installed it, and it wouldn't let me deny it access to my address book, I thought oh well I'll let it

I loaded the app, and saw more than 20 contacts who I did not want to have more reasons to talk to me, having them limited to just SMS means communication is rare,
I want control of WHO I talk with, and in what manner, Whatsapp assumes you want all of your contacts with the app to be able to talk to you.

With well over 1000 mobile numbers in my address book, I certainly don't even want a small fraction of them on my IM client.

THAT is what is wrong with whatsapp,

[olga421]

Well I have had 51 contacts for the past 3years,long live BBM forget about the Isheep (iphone)and the malware infested android

[olga421]

Well I have had 51 contacts for the past 3years,long live BBM forget about the Isheep (iphone)and the malware infested android,and by the way I just added 25 more

[Chrisy]

Well I have had 51 contacts for the past 3years,long live BBM forget about the Isheep (iphone)and the malware infested android,and by the way I just added 25 more

I know for certain that some of my friends and family will be coming back to BlackBerry when BlackBerry 10 drops. Can't wait to have them on BBM again!

Right now, I at least have them in my BBM app as SMS contacts. That's a cool little option!

[phonejunky]

See I had over 400 bbm contacts at one point about 100 of them being work related or from work. Now I have 15. Can we say mass exodus.

[bungaboy]

See I had over 400 bbm contacts at one point about 100 of them being work related or from work. Now I have 15. Can we say mass exodus.

Sounds more like an . . . . . iDisorder. L0L

[gxgs]

I know everyone of my 36 contacts.

Yeah, but they are not your friends (: otherwise you would have installed whatsapp for that guy that left. You see, friends are important, they are just not "bleeh dream on, be gone of my list, i wont install anything for you". Thats not a friend, thats how people treat acquaintances or someone not actually important for you.

Whatsapp scans my addressbook that is what is wrong with it


I installed it to do a groupchat test with people who I am in a BBM group with comparing multiple phones but once I installed it, and it wouldn't let me deny it access to my address book, I thought oh well I'll let it

I loaded the app, and saw more than 20 contacts who I did not want to have more reasons to talk to me, having them limited to just SMS means communication is rare,
I want control of WHO I talk with, and in what manner, Whatsapp assumes you want all of your contacts with the app to be able to talk to you.

With well over 1000 mobile numbers in my address book, I certainly don't even want a small fraction of them on my IM client.

THAT is what is wrong with whatsapp,

Wut? It reads the phone numbers of your contacts to see who has activated whatsapp.

Anybody that has you in their address book and has whatsapp can write you through whatsapp. If you dont have them in your address book but they have you, they can write to you. You can block users in whatsapp that you dont want to contact you, either by number (in case you dont have them) or by contact (in your address book), its easy. People can also send you PIN messages if they have your PIN, whether you have them or not.

There is nothing wrong with whatsapp, you seem to be paranoid about everything always, its actually interesting that you even use a smartphone. Yeah, i know, security in this digital world is important, but damn, saying something is wrong because you are "waay above average tight" about it is just not right.

Anybody that has your number can SMS you, anybody that has your number can whatsapp you if you have whatsapp installed. You can block them if you want. I dont see how that is wrong and is such a personal information security and military intelligence breach when they already have your number?

You dont want them in your IM client, but they can send you SMS anyways because they have you as a contact. Tell me again how low profile you are when anybody in the world can spam you with SMS.

In any case, whatsapp is like your address book and uses data, its like an alternative to SMS. If you worry about people you dont want contacting you on whatsapp, you should worry about people SMSing you too, and there is nothing you can do about that. You can even be spammed with PIN messages if anybody has your PIN number, and then you have to worry about people PIN messaging you. Then anybody can call spam you, and you have to worry about that too, the same deal applies. You would have to resort to blocking them (whatsapp) or using the built in firewall to block SMS and PIN messages.

You also need to worry about supermarkets or stores that offer frequent buyer reward cards selling your house address to advertisers that will send you ads via mail to your house and will overflow your mailbox with crap paper ads.

I guess when someone is heavily biased against something there is nothing that can be done.

[_StephenBB81]

Wut? It reads the phone numbers of your contacts to see who has activated whatsapp.

I understand the concept, and it may be useful to some, I want to be able to disable that option and be invisible then I would give it a go.
I give out 1500-2000 business cards per year, I provide a short cut link in my email to make adding my contact to your address book as simple as 1-3 clicks,

Anybody that has you in their address book and has whatsapp can write you through whatsapp. If you dont have them in your address book but they have you, they can write to you. You can block users in whatsapp that you dont want to contact you, either by number (in case you dont have them) or by contact (in your address book), its easy. People can also send you PIN messages if they have your PIN, whether you have them or not.

If I was 16, and building my address book from the start, maybe I'd spend the time blocking and managing, but I am a heavy user of my phone, and have many contacts, and even more contacts who I don't have in my address book, I don't want to make managing my IM client a part time job

There is nothing wrong with whatsapp, you seem to be paranoid about everything always, its actually interesting that you even use a smartphone. Yeah, i know, security in this digital world is important, but damn, saying something is wrong because you are "waay above average tight" about it is just not right.

I am not paranoid, if I was paranoid I would have never bothered to try and install it, I need to control my daily life, I use a smartphone because it is required for me, it is impossible to do my job without being connected as I travel more so than I am stationary, I don't even have an extension at the office since well, I never am at the office, when I got my first smartphone in 2002 it was out of interest in tech, now it is a necessity.

I think it is WRONG to force the shared contacts, it should be an option not a force.

Anybody that has your number can SMS you, anybody that has your number can whatsapp you if you have whatsapp installed. You can block them if you want. I dont see how that is wrong and is such a personal information security and military intelligence breach when they already have your number?

You dont want them in your IM client, but they can send you SMS anyways because they have you as a contact. Tell me again how low profile you are when anybody in the world can spam you with SMS.

SMS limits communication to 140 characters, AND requires an additional component to ones phone plan which discourages the use of SMS in favour of email, email is trackable far more than SMS or a IM client,
The IM client has notifications my BBM often says what city I'm in, EVERYONE having access to my Whatsapp would mean I can't broadcast what city I'm in for those who I want to know, I'd have to send them a specific message, people get complainy when they know you visited their city, but didn't see them, and suspect you saw their competition, which is often the case,
Also SMS doesn't bright you to the top of a list, you are hidden in an Address book, they must seek you out to send said SMS, with IM clients the sole purpose is to see contacts names, and send them messages, which makes more people want to use it and contact people.
Nothing about being low profile, which I clearly am not, or I wouldn't post as much as I do.
BUT everything to do with controlling the means in which I contact people and do business.

In any case, whatsapp is like your address book and uses data, its like an alternative to SMS. If you worry about people you dont want contacting you on whatsapp, you should worry about people SMSing you too, and there is nothing you can do about that. You can even be spammed with PIN messages if anybody has your PIN number, and then you have to worry about people PIN messaging you. Then anybody can call spam you, and you have to worry about that too, the same deal applies. You would have to resort to blocking them (whatsapp) or using the built in firewall to block SMS and PIN messages.

I WANT the phone calls, and Because I don't use SMS, people know to avoid it if they need a quick answer, key people get my BBM, my BES could block a PIN spammer if I got one, but it isn't common, and I change my BlackBerry often enough that it isn't an issue.

So having your address book accessible to the app isn't an issue for you, that is great, for me it is, and I posted what I felt was wrong with whatsapp, it isn't infallible, it isn't for everyone.

You also need to worry about supermarkets or stores that offer frequent buyer reward cards selling your house address to advertisers that will send you ads via mail to your house and will overflow your mailbox with crap paper ads.

I guess when someone is heavily biased against something there is nothing that can be done.

Now this is just looking for ways to paint me as paranoid, I don't have to worry about spam, it is a fact of life, it isn't SPAM I'm worried about it is being pestered,

your life/job might not involve constant contact, maybe it does, and maybe you don't mind, mine does, and I do.
Whatsapp had potential, but without examining deep into my address list or even seeing HOW many people were in my list total I saw far too many people who I need to limit conversation to emails and not encourage daily communication with.

[Neely2005]

Pretty soon I'll be talking to myself.
Had 30 contacts for ages, now its less then 10 as everyone's switched platforms.

Anyone experiencing this?

Nope my BBM contact has never stopped growing. Currently I have 30+ and I know them all. I've only had a BlackBerry for about 2 years.

My teenage son has 300+ BBM contacts and he's only had his BlackBerry for about 1 year.

I'm not sure how many BBM contacts my wife has but it has only increased as well. She got her BlackBerry at the same time that I did.

[ElGusta]

If any of you are fans of the Toronto Blue Jays, you can add the team to BBM.

I think this is a really cool concept that RIM should expand to other sports teams and leagues through sponsorship.

I know RIM advertises with the NBA, not sure why they haven't added any BBM integration yet. Basketball is really popular in some of RIM's more important emerging markets (Philipinnes, Nigeria).


BlackBerry Insider | bluejays.com: Multimedia
Blue Jays On BBM | The Show TO

[raptorstv]

does anyone know the current number of blackberry users in the US?

[gxgs]

I understand the concept, and it may be useful to some, I want to be able to disable that option and be invisible then I would give it a go.
I give out 1500-2000 business cards per year, I provide a short cut link in my email to make adding my contact to your address book as simple as 1-3 clicks,

You don't understand the concept, pretty sure the first idea behind whatsapp was to be as close as possible to an SMS replacement, and thats what it is. It was never supposed to be a completely separate IM client with its own ID number that you have to give away to everyone so they add you, their point was, messaging anybody activated in the address book without having to add anything extra.

If I was 16, and building my address book from the start, maybe I'd spend the time blocking and managing, but I am a heavy user of my phone, and have many contacts, and even more contacts who I don't have in my address book, I don't want to make managing my IM client a part time job

16... interesting, nice stereotype bro, whats next? whatsapp was made for kids like the iphone?
Angry cranks in 3,2,1...
You dont even have to manage anything, somebody writes to you, menu key > block, guess thats as much of a hassle as double tapping the screen to click a link. It doesn't have read receipts, only a delivered one, like SMS, even emails can obtain a delivery receipt with the mail server, and still you can ignore it and it doesn't even mean the message got to you.

I think it is WRONG to force the shared contacts, it should be an option not a force.

Nope, not wrong, thats the concept, see, you didn't understand it. Thats like saying SMS is forcing shared contacts...

SMS limits communication to 140 characters, AND requires an additional component to ones phone plan which discourages the use of SMS in favour of email, email is trackable far more than SMS or a IM client

How is the character limit relevant again? or the fact that it needs a "component" (i guess thats in canada? you dont need a component in the us, unless you cancel sms altogether)
Point stands, anybody from your address book can SMS you, and in that case, even email, yet, they dont, they dont bother talking to you. I dont see how whatsapp will make them talk to you. Whatsapp = like SMS over data, thats it. If whatsapp is wrong to have activated users from your address book as contacts, then even the SMS functionality is wrong since also, activated SMS users can SMS each other, and those with an email account can email each other, aaand the ignore option is still available.

The IM client has notifications my BBM often says what city I'm in, EVERYONE having access to my Whatsapp would mean I can't broadcast what city I'm in for those who I want to know, I'd have to send them a specific message, people get complainy when they know you visited their city, but didn't see them, and suspect you saw their competition, which is often the case,

Huh? kkk cool, thats not even a feature in whatsapp. And, well the concept is not being confined to a unique number that you have to give away. Have you ever heard about iMessage? well, its kinda like that, dont know exactly the features of imessage. But you dont have to add anybody to a separate client, it just works with the phone number like an SMS, just over data.

Also SMS doesn't bright you to the top of a list, you are hidden in an Address book, they must seek you out to send said SMS, with IM clients the sole purpose is to see contacts names, and send them messages, which makes more people want to use it and contact people.

Whatsapp doesn't bring you to a top of a list either, unless you have 10 whatsapp contacts that fit in the screen, you still have to search through the whole list of contacts. They dont SMS, they dont care about you, whatsapp wont make them care.

I WANT the phone calls, and Because I don't use SMS, people know to avoid it if they need a quick answer, key people get my BBM, my BES could block a PIN spammer if I got one, but it isn't common, and I change my BlackBerry often enough that it isn't an issue.

Whatsapp was not made for VIP lists or premium selecting humans. I have absolutely no problems and doubts with BBM being a VIP list of close people, because its an actual IM client made for that, being separate from address book and phone number.

So having your address book accessible to the app isn't an issue for you, that is great, for me it is, and I posted what I felt was wrong with whatsapp, it isn't infallible, it isn't for everyone.

But its not wrong, you dont "agree" with it would be more like it, but its not wrong, do you also wrong all those who do not share your political or religious belief or every point of view? Your initial post was not that of a feeling, but more like a final judgement to the functionality, wrong because i dont like it, boom. Same line as saying that blackberrys are wrong because they have no powerful hardware, or because of the lack of apps. Its not wrong, its just not "agreeing", it doesn't matter how wrong it is to somebody, generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with blackberrys, they just dont agree with/like it.

Whatsapp had potential, but without examining deep into my address list or even seeing HOW many people were in my list total I saw far too many people who I need to limit conversation to emails and not encourage daily communication with.

They wont write to you either. Of all the sh*tload of people i have as acquaintances or barely know in whatsapp, none of them have written to me, not even saying "hey whatsupp, how are you, do you know who won the game last night" or "hey, how are your investments", it might happen if i give away my phone to an attention wh*re or a poser in love with me, but they can still SMS me. It just doesn't happen with barely knowns. Might happen if its a close work friend or a friend from a long time ago just wanting to see how you are doing, but people that you dont know you, they wont write to you. And in the rare case they do, menu > block, but i can be sure thats not what people do, unless all your business contacts are ridiculously friendly with strangers.

Again, it still has potential, its been growing like cancer, my activated contacts list just grows weekly, for those who see it like what it is and not like a private VIP list of people.

You are starting to sound like somebody who is full of sh*t (nothing personal, just sounds like it), but it seems like you think everybody will just start talking to you like crazy in hordes, worshiping you. Are you an actor? celebrity? I might understand that way. Do a test, it wont harm you, install it, and see how many of all the ridiculously friendly business contacts will write to you asking what your status in life is. And come back in three months and post your results of how many you blocked that wrote to you, dont block them all in one shot, just those who write you.

[phonejunky]

Usually DeRusset you're a good debater but you lost this one. NMS was on his game.

[_StephenBB81]

I will concede, WhatsApp is NOT an IM client, it is SMS over data. I'll accept that premise, I was under the impression it was a IM client, AND was told to look into it as a BBM alternative for my iPhone.

I chose age 16, because is that not the average age one is getting a smartphone? and thus the age one would start managing their contact lists. I was older getting mine, but have maintained the list since I first transferred my paper book into my phone.

The Question was, "whats wrong with whatsapp" and because my impression of it was it was an IM client, I gave what was wrong about it in my view.


And in Canada, Texting isn't included on all plans, Actually some plans like my fathers he pays to send AND receive, I just pay to send texts, I get free incoming
When I was issued my first company BlackBerry in 2008, ALL SMS's were billed directly to the employee's all other transactions were covered by the company,

[Sidekicker]

I just deleted BBM because I only had a few contacts left on there.

[SnoozerBold]

I've got around 12 contacts and that's around what I've always had for the last 3 years. It would be nice to have more though.

[cynicalreader]

BBM has to be developed as a cross platform tool.

The problem is the numbers. There are over one billion smartphones out there. Of those about 110M are BBs, of those about 80M are subscribed and of those - according to a post I saw here - about 60M use BBM. That means those 60M can only communicate with 60M, not the one billion communication-capable devices out there.

Similarly, from a revenue generation potential - one billion looks much more lucrative than 60M. RIM should concentrate on getting out a cross platform version of BBM asap since the problem is only getting worse.

[ADGrant]

It is if you bring your own BB

You may not be able to. Some BYOD companies only support Exchange Active Sync for cost reasons.

[ADGrant]

That's fine if you're the type of person who'll chat up with anybody and everybody across the globe. But not for those of us who prefer to be that sociable with just family and friends that we like to physically hang with as well. And even then, we just end up actually talking on the phone with them anyway.

Some posters seem to think that the solution to no BBM contacts is to get new friends that have BBM (and presumably a new spouse and family too). What's the point of a communication system that doesn't let me communicate with the people I want to communicate with.

My BBM list was down to three when I got rid of my personal BB and one of them was easier to reach on his iPhone. Another one just accidentally destroyed her BB and replaced it with an iPhone. Almost everyone I communicate with on a regular basis has an iPhone (one sister has an Android device). For me that makes an iPhone a much better tool for personal communications. iMessage may not have all the features of BBM but 125 million people use it. There are only 78 million BB subscribers and many of them don't use BBM.

[[email protected]]

Similarly, from a revenue generation potential - one billion looks much more lucrative than 60M. RIM should concentrate on getting out a cross platform version of BBM asap since the problem is only getting worse.

Why would someone pay to use BBM when you can use other services for free? Doesn't make sense.