[CrackBerry News]

Emtek has announced their decision to end service of BBM for consumers on May 31, 2019.

Full story from the Crackberry Blog...

[Chuck Finley69]

Now we’ll see how many people will actually pay for something instead of freeloading. Interesting exercise in the observation in consumer behavior...

[chetmanley]

This is great news IMO.

Also a massive drop in BBMe price from about 100$ per year for voice and text to just 6$ per year.

[Chuck Finley69]

That’s good point. I read the article too quick and thought it was $2.49/month but it’s that for six months. Awesome catch and observation.

[danfrancisco]

This stinks. I would pay the subscription but everyone else who is a BBM contact of mine who only have it to stay in touch with me surely won't. It's a sad day for us BlackBerry loyalists.

[anon(10562251)]

This is great news IMO.

Also a massive drop in BBMe price from about 100$ per year for voice and text to just 6$ per year.

Agreed! And if they add SMS support, we will have a fully integrated client for Inbox. Sounds good to me!

[pdr733]

I think this (EMTEK) is the same case as with PT BB Merah Putih. Overestimated the brand recognition of BBRY in Indonesia, did not find enough ways to monetize existing user base and the huge (10 pc) devaluation of the Indonesian currency Vs the dollar just sealed the deal for them (I assume they had to pay the license fee in US $)
But this is just my guess I am neither Indonesian nor privy to the inner workings of EMTEK.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Agreed! And if they add SMS support, we will have a fully integrated client for Inbox. Sounds good to me!

So they are going to drop the price and add new features...

HUB+ could have SMS support if BlackBerry wanted to go through the complicated and expensive process. But BBM, not a chance.

Had hoped that maybe RCS standards might be more open.... but even now each carrier seem to be picking their own way of implementing it.

[conite]

Offering BBMe is just a method of soft-landing some of their non-BES corporate clients.

I don't see any real development going forward.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I think this (EMTEK) is the same case as with PT BB Merah Putih. Overestimated the brand recognition of BBRY in Indonesia, did not find enough ways to monetize existing user base and the huge (10 pc) devaluation of the Indonesian currency Vs the dollar just sealed the deal for them (I assume they had to pay the license fee in US $)
But this is just my guess I am neither Indonesian nor privy to the inner workings of EMTEK.

Timing again was off... Most in Indonesia had already found other messengers to use alongside BBM, and had starting favoring those. Emtek had great plans to use BBM as a commercial product, but they needed a growing... not shirking userbase to get partners and advertiser interested.

Merah Putih... the market just wasn't interested in a Premium priced android slab phone... that wasn't premium. Aurora was just a reference design that could be bought for half price without the BlackBerry software and branding. And the updates that BlackBerry talked about being a part of the program... didn't show up.

[Thunderstrom]

Emtek has announced their decision to end service of BBM for consumers on May 31, 2019.

Full story from the Crackberry Blog...

wtf everything of BB is closing down .. I need something part of BB, big G is seeing everyone!

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

wtf everything of BB is closing down .. I need something part of BB, big G is seeing everyone!

Enterprise Software, or behind the scenes automotive...

[Chuck Finley69]

wtf everything of BB is closing down .. I need something part of BB, big G is seeing everyone!

There’s a guy selling a Passport SE around here if that helps....

[anon(10218918)]

A right decision in the direction to more privacy! I hope there will be more coming !

[jeforero]

question: i read that they could not sign up enough people to use BBM. I wonder how they planned to do that since I see no ads for BB phones and much less BBM. If they don't advertise and promote their products how do they expect to compete? If they rely solely on word of mouth and the loyal BB users then they are mistaken and removing BBM is the result.

[jeforero]

Who is using BBMe? is it like the consumer BBM but better? is it easy to use? If I were to install it on my Passport could I make calls and do video calling to my friends that have iphones or android phones?

[4ron]

This should be a front page story.

[howarmat]

This should be a front page story.

it is......this is the thread linking to the front page story even

[chetmanley]

Who is using BBMe? is it like the consumer BBM but better? is it easy to use? If I were to install it on my Passport could I make calls and do video calling to my friends that have iphones or android phones?

It's better in that it is end-end encrypted and doesn't have countless 3rd parties collecting data on you (just one in this case - Mixpanel for BB)

In terms of raw features however, BBM consumer by Emtek had far more going for it.
BBMe is very similar to what BBM Consumer was like before Emtek.

Yes, BBMe Voice and Video calls on BB10 work with BBMe Android and vice versa.