[scorpiodsu]

For a while now, I've found single platform messaging applications frustration and subsequently useless. I use to love BBM when I was a user and had all my friends on it and of course of the years most have migrated elsewhere. So now users are on several other applications (Whatsapp, Google Hangouts, KIK to name a few). While I found these applications a little more hlepful since they weren't limited to 1 platform I still didn't like the fact that I needed to use more than 1 app to chat with people--regular SMS and whatever other app I was using. Because of this I didn't use them at all. But I recently started playing around more with facebook messenger and I have to tell you that it's great. The great thing about it is that I can use it as my SMS/MMS app as well. Using 1 app that consolidates all my conversations across 2 differernt sets of users is great. And I don't have to go asking people to download an app and add me and such. Google Hangouts is rumored to eventually have this functionality as well and I gotta say that BBM will definitely need it at some point to really take back the crown as the best messaging application. Now this works for me because all my friends are always logged into facebook or just regular SMSers but just the convenience of having 1 app for both is great.

What will make BBM great, is not how good it is as a standalone app but how well it integrates into what people already. Now I'm sure it will get a huge download spike when it first comes out but I would think that users (who don't already have or love BBM) would find it pointless to download an additional application to talk to people I already talk to on other apps. So here's hoping that not only BBM is awesome when it comes out, but it integrates well into what we're already doing to really make it better. Integration into existing SMS/MMS would definitely make this a great option but standalone, not really sure. Here's hoping for the best.

[BerryWizard]

i like the idea, hopefully apple deosnt sue if ever they do that because it sounds like imessage to me

[anon(5624621)]

For those of us with limited and/or expensive SMS and MMS this might not be as good as for those with unlimited plans. I like visibility into when I'm spending money and when I'm not.

Posted via CB10

[OpenMobile]

They won't be able to intercept the text traffic on iOS (that would mean disabling Apple's app - which they'll never allow). I see what you're saying about wanting to have everything integrated into one app, but the other platforms simply won't allow it (BBM also natively allows you to e-mail as well). The other mobile OS's will always want to retain control over messaging.

[LazyEvul]

They won't be able to intercept the text traffic on iOS (that would mean disabling Apple's app - which they'll never allow). I see what you're saying about wanting to have everything integrated into one app, but the other platforms simply won't allow it (BBM also natively allows you to e-mail as well). The other mobile OS's will always want to retain control over messaging.

iOS probably wouldn't allow it, but it's certainly a possibility on Android. I use Facebook Messenger for my SMS/MMS on Android, I'm sure BBM could take advantage of similar permissions.

[QuantumQnx]

OP: completely agree. I don't know why BBM on bb10 dumped txt message integration in the first place - really annoying.

Posted via CB10

[LazyEvul]

OP: completely agree. I don't know why BBM on bb10 dumped txt message integration in the first place - really annoying.

Posted via CB10

I thought about that for a bit, and I suspect it's because you'd end up with some awkward Hub integration - would you classify SMS/MMS as a BBM message suddenly, or would it still fall under Text Messages while invoking BBM? Either one is not an ideal solution, and the Hub makes it much more logical to just keep them separate, especially since you end up going to just one place to access all your messages regardless.

[QuantumQnx]

I thought about that for a bit, and I suspect it's because you'd end up with some awkward Hub integration - would you classify SMS/MMS as a BBM message suddenly, or would it still fall under Text Messages while invoking BBM? Either one is not an ideal solution, and the Hub makes it much more logical to just keep them separate, especially since you end up going to just one place to access all your messages regardless.

Hmm good point. My workaround would be that you could read/send your txts within BBM app for approved contacts. In the hub BBM txt contacts would appear as BBM messages, except instead of D and R symbols you would have a txt symbol.

Posted via CB10

[scorpiodsu]

I'm not saying for BBM to intercept SMS or MMS. Just saying allow your SMS chats to been seen/used from BBM. So currently the facebook app doesn't touch your SMS it just let's you use it as the SMS app. Not sure how many of you guys have experience with Android but there are so many SMS replacement apps out there. So facebook is not only a SMS replacement app but also includes facebook chat with those online. So it's nothing like iMessage. I'm just suggestion being able to use 1 app for both purposes. Google Hangouts will have it soon too. Even a third party app like GO SMS has a facebook plugin to bring those convos into 1 app. It's a way to get people to use their apps for messaging because they know as a standalone app it's more difficult to get users to use consistently. But an all-in-one app works is very flexible.

[scorpiodsu]

For those of us with limited and/or expensive SMS and MMS this might not be as good as for those with unlimited plans. I like visibility into when I'm spending money and when I'm not.

Posted via CB10

Irrelevent in this scenario. The app doesn't merge SMS and facebook convos. It merely keeps them alltogether in one app. It also shows you the ones that are SMS and those that aren't. So that wouldn't be an issue. Think about how blackberry has 1 inbox where you can see all your messages without users having to go to separate apps. Same thing here.

[Xopher]

BBM already has this option on legacy devices. You can add SMS contacts to your BBM contact list and chat with them through the BBM interface. I don't think it's available on BB10, though.

It would be interesting if they implemented this on cross platform versions.

[scorpiodsu]

BBM already has this option on legacy devices. You can add SMS contacts to your BBM contact list and chat with them through the BBM interface. I don't think it's available on BB10, though.

It would be interesting if they implemented this on cross platform versions.

This is exactly what I would make BBM great across platforms. I think Blackberry knew how convenient it was to allow people to have all of their conversations in one place and this is why it was implement in blackberry devices. So when the BBM app comes out, I hope that eventually they allow it to also be an SMS replacement app that handles all your BBM and SMS/MMS all in one. In my opinion, that's a killer feature that very few apps have and the sole reason why I'm using facebook messenger. Otherwise it's just another standalone app. It needs to separate itself and do it before Google does it with hangouts and Whatsapp does it.