[smart548]

It's time to advertise BBM! Before Telegram will, before Whatsapp will release its update that will enable call over 3G-WiFi, before any massive move from Microsoft (weird they are not "pushing" skype so much)!! Please do that now! You have to begin advertising NOW. You have so much to offer ;-) C'mon! And then release video-call for iOs-Android in a few months!
Let's put some millionS on that!

Posted via CB10

[Rello]

I agree...advertise something but I still think there are few things they night need to address first. Video is a must and many still have reliability issues. Sometimes my messages take 10+ seconds to become delivered. Even BlackBerry to BlackBerry messages are delayed a little bit sometimes.

I believe that if whatsapp catches up in features, BBM isn't going to win that fight

Posted via CB10

[propeller10]

Let me ask you a question.. Would you use AIM if even if AOL advertised it to death? Probably not. Blackberry needs to rebrand BBM.

Btw this should be in general discussion.

[Troy Tiscareno]

Let me ask you a question.. Would you use AIM if even if AOL advertised it to death? Probably not. Blackberry needs to rebrand BBM.

Excellent point. Before BB needs to spend a penny advertising BBM, they need to get BBM up to snuff - something even BB has recently acknowledged.

They need to get the WinPhone client out, get Video calling working, get the reliability issues fixed on iOS and Android (resolve the big delay in message delivery), and, maybe more importantly at all, make in much easier for people to sign up and add contacts. This last point is painful for most people, and unless they are already hardcore BBM fans or have to use BBM for some reason, most people will avoid BBM just for that reason alone. Spending money to advertise when your new-user experience is poor is just flushing money down the toilet.

Also, think about this:

How much money has WhatsApp spent on advertising? How about Google Talk/Hangouts? Viber? Kik? WeChat? Telegram?

The answer is: nothing or nearly nothing. Advertising isn't what made people adopt those platforms in such big numbers - ease of use, functionality, and NETWORK EFFECTS (i.e., all your friends use it already, so you use it too, because a communications app, no matter how awesome, is useless if you can't talk to the people you need to talk to).

If BB can deliver an experience that non-BBM users think is better than the other apps they've used, people will start to switch, even without advertising. If not, then no amount of advertising will make any real difference. This distinction is important to accept, because BB fans tend to ignore, excuse, or deny problems with any BB software and services because they want to support BB. Non-BBM users are going to be much more objective, and maybe even a little hostile, towards switching to BBM, and if BB can't deliver an experience that, on its own, overcomes that, then BBM simply won't grow. BB is aware of this, but it remains to be seen what they can actually deliver, and when.