[alexbe09]

I love BBM and everything BlackBerry has included into the BBM experience. I traveled to Mexico 5 times last year 2013 and this is what I found.

Companies like "Movistar" offer its customers for 200 pesos. About 16.25 USD per month...

500 minutes (included to call Mexico numbers USA and canada numbers)

250 mb of Internet usage (I think)

Twitter, Facebook, email unlimited for 30 days

And here it is.....

WHATSAPP unlimited for 30 days.....

So what does that mean?? people in Mexico with the company Movistar are not using up there data to use Whatsapp and twitter and Facebook.

When you walk into a mobile store and see Whatsapp plastered all over their AD's it's pretty hard not to avoid it. Companies are feeding people whatsapp and it's a shame BBM isn't go cross platform sooner ever since kik,whatsapp etc started up BlackBerry should have beat them to the punch, and gone cross platform as well.

Thats the past I think this is something BlackBerry should definitely focus on working with carriers around the world to have BBM promoted for them.

Posted via CB10

[barohatoum]

Even here in Lebanon, WhatsApp is plastered all over the billboards. In lebanon we have 2 telecom companies, mtc touch and alfa. Both companies offer a whatsapp bundle. Mtc touch offers 200mb of whatsapp for 4$ a month and alfa offers 100mb of whatsapp for 2$ a month saying its more than enough.

I live in montreal, canada and ive seen people here in lebanon run business on whatsapp. Even doctors ask you to send them your test results over whatsapp.

This fact here makes me believe that people dont really care about privacy and are ready to share their phone numbers with anybody

Posted via CB10

[santhoshmanikandan]

WhatsApp respond to people requests sooner than BlackBerry BBM.

Z10STL100-1/10.2.1.3175

[jason9900]

When you install BBM for the first time, your contact list is empty. You have to request each and everyone, for pins. Good for privacy.

On the other hand, when you install WhatsApp, you just have to tap on 'new chat' button and everyone from your contacts is already there. This is very convenient.

This feature is good for some, and bad for some(privacy reasons). But i think that's the reason why everybody goes for WhatsApp.

So true. Many people on here will say BBM is more secure, or they like having a pin so random can't contact them. Ummmmmm if they already have your number, why can't they contact you?!?

Posted via CB10

[alexbe09]

Well with BBM you have control over who u wanna chat with. Meet someone and instead of giving your number u give them your pin...if that person ends up being a stocker u simply block him/her.

And that's insane how companies are offering whatsapp so much.... I hope BlackBerry comes up with a plan to execute this

Posted via CB10

[kwenie]

So true. Many people on here will say BBM is more secure, or they like having a pin so random can't contact them. Ummmmmm if they already have your number, why can't they contact you?!?

Posted via CB10

Agreed. If BB really wants to give BBM a chance on android and iOS they should step away from the pin-heritage as it only makes live difficult

Posted via CB10

[niss63]

So true. Many people on here will say BBM is more secure, or they like having a pin so random can't contact them. Ummmmmm if they already have your number, why can't they contact you?!?

Posted via CB10

Other way around. I like being able to give someone my PIN without having to give them my phone number. That, and I can easily turn off their ability to contact me, if so desired.

Posted via CB10

[alexbe09]

I don't think they should move away from the pin because it makes if different. But I agree maybe they can give u the option to choose adding by pin or adding contacts by phone number.... options like dark/light theme idk just an idea

Posted via CB10

[alexbe09]

Agreed X100

Posted via CB10

[chopachain]

Copy whatsapp add it to BBM so you have a option pin or phone number or both. Would you rather pop a meal into the microwave or spend the whole day cooking. Nuf said. Different strokes to different folks.

[afl777]

One reason Whatsapp is now more popular could well be Channels. Absolutely fine on BB10....but far too much for a lot of the 'memory struggling' older OS7 and below devices. Channels on these devices has caused major issues, causing, in some cases, BBM to virtually be un-usable. The ones I used to deal with on help pages complained bitterly about this, and as I tried to direct these users to a tried and trusted link to get back an older non channel version, Blackberry didn't like it....saying folks had to move forward. My thoughts were that it was better for people to be able to easily use BBM, even if that meant rolling back to a previous version. Just one more issue why quite a few users gave up and changed platform.

[ronfc]

Not only that, but because WhatsApp is all over the place, while BBM is, well, none. Still, marketing.

Cave, cave, moderator videt

[Thesmartmale]

One reason Whatsapp is now more popular could well be Channels. Absolutely fine on BB10....but far too much for a lot of the 'memory struggling' older OS7 and below devices. Channels on these devices has caused major issues, causing, in some cases, BBM to virtually be un-usable. The ones I used to deal with on help pages complained bitterly about this, and as I tried to direct these users to a tried and trusted link to get back an older non channel version, Blackberry didn't like it....saying folks had to move forward. My thoughts were that it was better for people to be able to easily use BBM, even if that meant rolling back to a previous version. Just one more issue why quite a few users gave up and changed platform.

THIS^. Absolutely true and sad, BlackBerry is so stupid to push channels to old BBOS devices and Android devices that struggle for ram!! What were they thinking? The problem is they know it's not as smooth but they still decided to neglect it.

Posted via CB10

[alexbe09]

THIS^. Absolutely true and sad, BlackBerry is so stupid to push channels to old BBOS devices and Android devices that struggle for ram!! What were they thinking? The problem is they know it's not as smooth but they still decided to neglect it.

Posted via CB10

Issues BlackBerry has to fix stop stumbling and jog....

Posted via CB10

[RH1Pearl]

I gave my phone to my daughter, bought a new one and had to reinstall all my Apps. My original WhatsApp contacts were originally restored in an instant. My BBM, I couldn't log in because I forgot my password. I sent request to BlackBerry to send my password by email. No reply. So I kept uninstalling and installing BBM hoping the problem would go away. After my 4th try, I checked the Spam messages in my Gmail and I found BlackBerry's reply. I almost gave up. This is how hard it is to reinstall BBM and how SUPER easy it is to reinstall WhatsApp in a new phone.

[Ebuka Allison]

Issues BlackBerry has to fix stop stumbling and jog....

Posted via CB10

Well, 80 million WP users are without BBm, 80 million Max users are without BBM, about 100~ million Android users without GP are without BBM. 2 Billion desktop users are without BBM. Now Viber on the other hand...
Whatsapp targets all platforms as well, making it the lowest common denominator. When you look at all the numbers as well as think about relationships and contacts. It becomes obvious why BBM is failing comparatively

[Soulstream]

1. Just like with BB10, they are just too late to the party. People don't have a really compelling reason to switch. Whatsapp works very well.
2. Lots of bugs and baterry drain when it was launched on iOS and Android.
3. No WP BBM yet.

[Deathcoffin]

People need to get a gripe, whatsapp is here to stay no matter what like it or not.

Sent from my WhiteBerry 10 smartphone.

[Oddsocket]

Whatsapp is great. It lets you message people with just their phone number. nothing's done that before.

/s

Posted via CB10

[Ebuka Allison]

Whatsapp is great. It lets you message people with just their phone number. nothing's done that before.

/s

Posted via CB10

That is PRECISELY what everyone is arguing and EXACTLY why people use whatsapp

[chopachain]

The second BBM becomes truly cross platform (all pc's, all laptops, all tablets and phones) phone numbers are dead. All BB's could get by right now with data and wifi only.

[LuvULongTime]

That is PRECISELY what everyone is arguing and EXACTLY why people use whatsapp

BB should give people the option to to turn phone number messaging on and off. For the security conscious folks they can continue to use PIN's and keep phone number messaging off. This would be a win/win IMO.

[masterful]

Whatsapp is just texting someone's phone number! Why bother install an application for that? Did they even know you can already do that? What a bunch of ding dong

? Slicing using my ?

[outoftheice]

That is PRECISELY what everyone is arguing and EXACTLY why people use whatsapp

Agreed. However I personally feel that this is the exact reason why there is room for both BBM and What'sApp in the world. I'm curious how many of the people on here who argue that BBM should be like What'sApp and automatically add your phone contact list actually give out their phone numbers in a professional capacity?? I'm guessing not very many! My phone's contact list includes phone numbers for my supervisor, my business contacts, various contractors I have used over the years and my doctor. Do I want any of them having a glimpse into my personal world? Absolutely not. This is the exact reason I am not Facebook friends with my supervisor, my business contacts, various contractors I have used over the years or my Doctor!

I stopped using What'sApp as a social media platform the day I realized that one of my work colleagues showed up on my contact list. Her profile pic was of her in a bikini holding a big novelty drink and a status about how she was enjoying her trip to Mexico. Beside her profile picture, What'sApp had conveniently provided me an option to save this photo of her for me to keep and use for whatever purpose I saw fit. That killed it for me. Today I still have What'sApp installed on my phone but I do not have a profile picture and I never update my status. I use it as a replacement to text colleagues when I am traveling internationally and that is it.

Do I think people shouldn't use What'sApp? No, of course not... like I said, I still use it myself. And when I was in high school and college and working at my first couple jobs, the only people who had my phone number were friends and friends of friends and at that point I really didn't care what they saw in my profile pics or statuses. The majority of people using messaging systems are made up of this group anyways so I'm sure What'sApp will continue to be the front runner in the messaging race.

That being said, I don't think that is justification for BBM to become a 'me too' type platform. The fact that it centres around privacy and pin numbers is exactly what makes it unique. It is the reason I use it as my primary messaging tool. The people on my BBM list are the people I want to have on there. I update my statuses and profile pics as I would in Facebook and I don't have to worry about the possibility of my supervisor or my doctor seeing it. It is my way to message with the people in my life and not just anybody who I once gave out my phone number to.

So I say keep BBM unique. Keep the pins. Bring it out for the desktop. Bring it out for Windows phone and try to sign deals with Telcos that includes it in data plans (because let's face it, BBM started this trend in the first place... it was part of the reason why BBM and BlackBerry became as popular as they did. The fact that What'sApp is now copying the strategy shows how BlackBerry dropped the ball. However having BBM included alongside twitter, Facebook and What'sApp in data plans shouldn't be outside the realm of possibilities). Will following these steps make BBM the #1 messaging platform again? Probably not. But will it allow it to grow to a respectable number of users in its own right? I think so. As the Apple vs Android battle has shown us, being #1 isn't necessarily as important as being in the top 2.

[Soulstream]

The second BBM becomes truly cross platform (all pc's, all laptops, all tablets and phones) phone numbers are dead. All BB's could get by right now with data and wifi only.

Then why hasn't skype dominated yet? They are "truly cross platform".