[FSeverino]

SMS is also limited to 160 characters, and 7 parts max that I have seen. so 7 X 160 for total message and may or may not be delivered in sequence. BBM messages are limited I believe to 2000 characters.

BBM Groups can be utilized to chat with multiple users at the same time, send 1 message they all get it and can reply within the same chat so all the others see it as well. I have not seen that done with SMS.

These are just the 2 that came to me while sitting here sipping coffee. Can't wait till I can get this on my SGS3........

Im sorry. I dont know if this makes sense to other people, but a 2000 word limit for a MESSAGE seems fine to me. this is an INSTANT MESSAGE service that allows you to MESSAGE contacts quickly.

By definition, which is (MESSAGE: A usually short communication transmitted by words, signals, or other means from one person, station, or group to another. ), if you are sending a 1000 - 2000 character correspondence to someone it is NOT a message, but in fact something else.
People need to realize what the things they are using were meant for, and use them accordingly. If you need to send a 2000 character message... EMAIL it. BBM, iMessage, WhatsApp and all those apps are for QUICK communication with friends. A �are you here?� or �how are you doing?� message... not something as long as what you have just read ... which is only 700 characters.

Meaning...(the rest is just copied to prove a point of length)

Im sorry. I dont know if this makes sense to other people, but a 2000 word limit for a MESSAGE seems fine to me. this is an INSTANT MESSAGE service that allows you to MESSAGE contacts quickly.

By definition, which is (MESSAGE: A usually short communication transmitted by words, signals, or other means from one person, station, or group to another. ), if you are sending a 1000 - 2000 character correspondence to someone it is NOT a message, but in fact something else.
People need to realize what the things they are using were meant for, and use them accordingly. If you need to send a 2000 character message... EMAIL it. BBM, iMessage, WhatsApp and all those apps are for QUICK communication with friends. A �are you here?� or �how are you doing?� message... not something as long as what you have just read ... which is only 700 characters.
Im sorry. I dont know if this makes sense to other people, but a 2000 word limit for a MESSAGE seems fine to me. this is an INSTANT MESSAGE service that allows you to MESSAGE contacts quickly.

By definition, which is (MESSAGE: A usually short communication transmitted by words, signals, or other means from one person, station, or group to another. ), if you are sending a 1000 - 2000 character correspondence to someone it is NOT a message, but in fact something else.
People need to realize what the things they are using were meant for, and use them accordingly. If you need to send a 2000 character message... EMAIL it. BBM, iMessage, WhatsApp and all those apps are for QUICK communication with friends. A �are you here?� or �how are you doing?� message... not something as long as what you have just read ... which is only 700 characters.

THIS ENTIRE MESSAGE IS a 2000 character message... so do people regularly send messages these long through BBM?

[kazakoshi]

I too have only 2 people with BBM. But I use BBM only because I added all other non bb contacts as text contacts to my BBM. Anyway, with true BBM, you could see if messages are read or not. This is very handy. With text, I've got a lot of "never receive". And group function is great! Specially calendar.

[w0lfgang]

If I had more than one BBM contact (my wife) BBM is all I would do...I can't wait for the cross platform move so I can tell all my friends to download it

Posted via CB10

[whodathunkit]

Those that have few friends/family on BBM use texting? If not, why? It seems to me the people who posted advantages of BBM need a larger audience in the BBM world for it to make sense.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 using Tapatalk

[raino]

If you have a smartphone, unless your texting is bundled (or, in other words, forced upon you for more money whether you want it or not,) you are essentially paying for an extra service. Between Whatsapp and BBM, I rarely send texts now. Why pay for an extra service (texting) when the data plan I'm required/chosen to have covers services like BBM?

Another benefit of services like BBM is it doesn't cost extra to send messages internationally. With texting, even if you have unlimited texting, I believe all US carriers charge extra for international texts. And you can also jump on WiFi networks to send BBMs when you are overseas. Doesn't cost you international roaming.

And finally, with BBM specifically, as others have said, it has evolved way beyond text messages and picture sharing, which can be done with SMS and MMS. Voice calling is smooth, and from what I hear, so is video calling, and other new features.

BBM also brings the additional benefit of partial anonymity, in that unlike Whatsapp, you don't have to give out your phone number to people, and you can block them easily if need be. I believe iMessage used to be phone number-only at one point, but now allows email address sign ups too.

[m1a1mg]

Texting is way better for the phone companies than calling, data wise. In the US, unlimited texting is the standard. Back when texts cost per unit, BBM made sense.

[FSeverino]

Texting is way better for the phone companies than calling, data wise. In the US, unlimited texting is the standard. Back when texts cost per unit, BBM made sense.

You would be surprised at how many people do not have unlimited texts... remember, the world is a lot bigger than america.

Posted via CB10

[m1a1mg]

You would be surprised at how many people do not have unlimited texts... remember, the world is a lot bigger than america.

Posted via CB10

What, there is some other place than the USofA? Get real.

Which is why I specified that I was talking about the US. I also had unlimited text with T-Mobile in Germany. 10 years ago.

[RP Singh]

There is no contest here, bbm follows your BlackBerry Id so you do your bbming from any of your BlackBerry devices (or someone else's), and you can change your telephone number as many times as you want without having to give your new tel # out every time as you would need to do with sms. Bbm has way more attachment options compared to sms, and bbm voice is superior to telephone calling, and sms has no equivalent to bbm video.

Sent from my iPuh-lease-as-IF

[Rello]

If you're in the States, BBM is very hard to justify. 20+ contacts in my list and I personally know 2 of them. I personally can't wait for BBM to go cross platform. It will make it so much more useful (for me anyways).

I don't know if people will abandon whatsapp for it right off the bat, but once BBM for IOS and Android gets bbm video and voice capabilities, I don't know if people will be able to ignore it...

[raino]

I BBM nudes all time

That makes two of us

[brmiller1976]

i think this poster has it right. I have Sprint and the rep assigned to my account says he has only sold 1 BB the past year and that was to me.

Sprint's support for non-iOS devices is pretty weak, though. Everyone who wanted something other than an iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 or EVO left Sprint already -- hence their low sales of devices that aren't those three.

[kye2000]

In the UK here BBM is a big thing

[reeneebob]

Yeah, I don't BBM outside of a couple of people from this board. Even my father and my boss, who have Torches, don't BBM. We all just text.

I didn't miss BBM when I didn't have it and I don't think it's the super feature many do.

Posted via CB10

[mexicangangboss]

To be honest, there is only one other person that I know that has a BlackBerry and that's my wife. We BBM all the time vs texting, but other that the delivery/read receipt, I don't gain anything out of it vs texting.

I don't really think that the cross platform thing is going to take hold and be of any use until the video calls, voice calls, and screen share are cross platform too. There's just not enough there, at least as far as plans on the US are concerned, to make it a huge leap over Text.

Now this is Mobile Computing at it's finest! Z10

I'm pretty much in the same situation, and unless the video calling etc somehow convinces all the Android and iPhone users around here to switch from WhatsApp I don't see that changing.

Posted via Z10

[buylocal_getaBB]

100,000 downloads of the fake bbm app in google play in a couple days. This with no public announcement or promotion of any kind. I find it hard to believe that the real app won't find even greater success.

Posted via my Zed (not Zee) 10

[kye2000]

100,000 downloads of the fake bbm app in google play in a couple days. This with no public announcement or promotion of any kind. I find it hard to believe that the real app won't find even greater success.

Posted via my Zed (not Zee) 10

Yeah but with the official release it will get spread round more

Sent from my Nexus 7 using CB Forums mobile app

[Troy Tiscareno]

I don't know if people will abandon whatsapp for it right off the bat, but once BBM for IOS and Android gets bbm video and voice capabilities, I don't know if people will be able to ignore it...

The problem is that Google Hangouts already exists and is pretty heavily used. Hangouts is ALREADY on every big platform (Windows, Linux, OSX, iOS, Android), already offers text chat, free phone calls in NA (and cheap elsewhere), free video chat with up to 10 people, and the ability to upload video chats to YouTube automatically if you wish. I'm not sure how BBM is going to be very attractive to Android and iOS users today.

[Tre Lawrence]

The problem is that Google Hangouts already exists and is pretty heavily used. Hangouts is ALREADY on every big platform (Windows, Linux, OSX, iOS, Android), already offers text chat, free phone calls in NA (and cheap elsewhere), free video chat with up to 10 people, and the ability to upload video chats to YouTube automatically if you wish. I'm not sure how BBM is going to be very attractive to Android and iOS users today.

Hangouts is a nice, full featured app. Great integration with Google+.

[bguss72]

Most texting features available through carriers is MMS not SMS. Big difference. I can send one message to multiple people (doesn't matter which phone they have). It ends up working just like BBM. Except I don't have to launch the app, and organize PINs. All my contacts are in my contact list already, I just choose who to send to. I've played around with the BBM app, it's not different than when I was using Live Profile. And I stopped using that app a couple of years ago, because I found it was more cumbersome and inconvenient for me to use, than MMS texting and iMessage. Which you only use one built in App, and it recognizes whether the recipient has access to iMessage or not. And sends the message (text, video, pic, voice) accordingly. Not sure if the new BBM app uses wifi, but it definitely still uses up your data, just like MMS. It's just a gimmick by Blackberry to keep itself afloat until they can sell the company. Keep themselves "relevant" for would be buyers.

[bguss72]

I totally agree. It seems that Blackberry is in the catch up business. And playing catch up is what lead them to their current position. And with BBM late in launching, and key features not even available (video and voice), many people who downloaded it are deleting it because they find it's not any better than what they are already using and used to. Had this app came out a couple of years ago, I'm sure it would have taken some traction. But now, not so much. I used to use Live Profile. But even that was short lived. Kept going back to using MMS and iMessage. Far more convenient, and offers the same features. With many friends having iPhones, Facetime is the go to video chat of choice. For the few that don't have iPhones, Skype does a great job. It's like Blackberry coming to the party late, bringing a tasty Chardonnay, only to find the drink table full of tasty Chardonnays already, which people have been drinking and enjoying.

[raino]

many people who downloaded it are deleting it because they find it's not any better than what they are already using and used to.

Source?