What is the business case from cross-platform BBM?

Can one of the more business-minded or techy people on this forum help me understand why RIM might be considering rolling out BBM to other platforms?

I ask because a 13-year-old daughter of a friend is begging her parents to upgrade her to a "Bold" or "Curve" from her existing slider-dumbphone format. She doesn't want an iPhone. Why? Because all her friends are on BBM.

So, assuming my friend's daughter is representative of thousands or millions of other teen girls, why would RIM want to dish it's killer-app out to Androis and iOS. To me this would be like Apple making iTunes available to other mobile platforms.

I know this is only rumor right now, but something is definitely brewing on the cross-platform BBM front.

And I just can't understand why!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I have the same question and can't figure out why they would be planning to offer BBM to other brands, even if it's a watered-down version since it seems to be a competitive advantage for RIM.

I suspect it's probably based in the same kind of thinking that caused the creator of "OnStar" technology for cars (can't remember if Toyota or GM actually invented it) to give it away to the rest of the industry in hopes that it would become the industry standard (although it obviously never became overwhelmingly popular). Maybe RIM thinks it'll be better to have their BBM claws into many, many more potential customers than to possibly lose out altogether to 3rd party chat tools like WhatsApp. Interesting topic, for sure.

I think the reason android is getting it first its a trade off. They will be using the Dalvik Java engine which is what android uses and the will be sandboxing it. So its a trade off. And with it being a *Unix based OS its not like they'll be able to keep theirs for long.

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Originally Posted by syb0rg

They will be using the Dalvik Java engine which is what android uses and the will be sandboxing it. So its a trade off. And with it being a *Unix based OS its not like they'll be able to keep theirs for long.
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There's no question that you know more about programming and operating systems than I do, so what's "sandboxing"?

And are you saying that BBM will be Unix-based "open" software so any other phone company could essentially pick it up and run with it as their own anyway?

Originally Posted by BBMINI

There's no question that you know more about programming and operating systems than I do, so what's "sandboxing"?

And are you saying that BBM will be Unix-based "open" software so any other phone company could essentially pick it up and run with it as their own anyway?

In computer security, a sandbox is a security mechanism for separating running programs. It is often used to execute untested code, or untrusted programs from unverified third-parties, suppliers and untrusted users

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_(computer_security)

Originally Posted by BBMINI

Maybe RIM thinks it'll be better to have their BBM claws into many, many more potential customers than to possibly lose out altogether to 3rd party chat tools like WhatsApp.

This makes a lot of sense. Maybe Xplatform BBM will be a "lite" version though - giving consumers incentive to move to a BlackBerry.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

^^ Right -- my understanding from things I've read on CB is that BBM on non-BB devices will be some kind of limited version and that you'd have to move to a true BB to get the full-fledged version, so maybe they're hoping to convert more folks to BB devices by enticing them with BBM.

I think allowing a lite version of BBM is a great idea because:
1. additional service revenue. For those who are too engrained into the IOS/Droid ecosystem and will not switch en BBRY can charge those users $3.99. Imagine tens of millions downloading BBM at $4.00 a pop
2. Slow the migration to other smartphones. This would solve the problem for those with a blackberry who want to switch because none of their friends are on BBM.
3. Additional advertising revenue on cross platform BBM