[m23haz]

Technobuffalo.com continues to post pics of what they say is BBM on Android. They even go on to say that it could be announced next week at Devcon.

What does everyone think? I find it strange to think that if it wasnt true they would keep reporting it. Also we havent seen a reply from anyone in the know on here from RIM denying it.

[SillyRabbit21]

As I posted in another thread, I think that would be a HUGE mistake. For young people like me, BBM is one of the main attractions of Blackberry and if made available on Android, I think RIM would lose a lot of young people.

[BBThemes]

im sorry, but they, along with alot of other sites, lost alot of my respect when they posted iPhone 4s unboxing videos. really? IT LOOKS THE SAME!!

but i digress lol, the fact the images have been seen before, some even from RIM themselves just belittle any sites validity.

[purijagmohan]

Actually I think it's a good idea.Open it, charge 2 bucks a month and 10 bucks to downlaod the app.A lot of money to be made there for RIM.

[M.Rizk]

If BBM and other BIS features moved to iOS I will throw my BlackBerry away, because what will be the use of it then when it has nothing special not even apps!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[rollingrock1988]

To be honest, I don't know how I feel about it. I think RIM may start licensing QNX, BBM etc. out, as well as their hardware designs....

[saalnaz]

If BBM and other BIS features moved to iOS I will throw my BlackBerry away, because what will be the use of it then when it has nothing special not even apps!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

its the keyboard...

nothing beats a keyboard if you are writing messages and emails..i just bought a touch screen phone (Nokia N9)..personally, i prefer physical keyboard for typing..i know there are people who are comfortable with using the touch screen for typing but i tend to make mistakes using the touch screen and even with auto correct it takes longer to type a message or an email for me with the touch screen and it gets tiring too fast for me using the touch screen for writing long messages..

BB with its new OS7 phones has a full touch screen phone but there is no way i will choose that over the physical keyboard of 9900..im not too crazy about the slider either..
the bold is purely for work purposes..i have now my personal phone if i want to use the Utube or check apps (im not a gamer either)..but then..i got the PB which is with me almost all the time so for viewing utube videos and for apps/games, i would rather have the 7" screen..

also,i just wish the BB have introduced a dual sim card phone, they would have killed sales for many other brands by doing so..

having said that, i dont think introducing the BBM on other platforms is necessarily a bad idea..i think it got be a master stroke from RIM..its a risky thing if it happens but it could bring more users to it but it may also lose many users but make up in terms of fees on other platforms..do you think they would have got the android app store for free??
thats the tradeoff i think without having to use their logos on opposite devices as samsung does (so rim can have Android without having anroid logo and vice versa)..samsung/SE i believe they all have to have the Android logo on their devices..

[tchocky77]

This is the beginning of RIM parting themselves out.

[Rickroller]

Where there's smoke..there's fire. Everyone's been dismissing these pics as photoshop fakes..but these "fakes" keep persisting..

I think it's hard to say how this will affect RIM. I could see alot of people who were on the fence about trying another platform now jumping ship because BBM is/was the only thing holding them back. RIM could lose alot of clients..but also could generate alot of revenue from BBM.

Depending on the cost of it..I would definately give it a shot again (on Android). If the pricing is a litte ridiculous, even though I might not mind paying it, I'm sure alot of friends/family would scoff at the idea of paying for it. And if no one I know is willing to pay for it..then what would be the point of me..

[avt123]

im sorry, but they, along with alot of other sites, lost alot of my respect when they posted iPhone 4s unboxing videos. really? IT LOOKS THE SAME!!

but i digress lol, the fact the images have been seen before, some even from RIM themselves just belittle any sites validity.

Agreed with the unboxing video, although this is done with BBs as well and they have all looked the same for the past few years since converting to a trackpad (All the Bolds besides the 9900 look the same, the Curves, the Torchs).

At this point, people just like seeing new shinny tech coming out of boxes even if it looks the same. Speaking of unboxing videos, I actually haven't watched one in a long time because I already know what to expect.

[anon3396357]

im sorry, but they, along with alot of other sites, lost alot of my respect when they posted iPhone 4s unboxing videos. really? IT LOOKS THE SAME!!

but i digress lol, the fact the images have been seen before, some even from RIM themselves just belittle any sites validity.

Poor Kevin lost your respect when he did a 9780 unboxing video.

[MrTherapy]

probably safe to say, bbm won't be full featured on non blackberry devices...at most, picture transferring, but no contact transfer, group chat, file transferring, send location, etc.

Overall, imo, its a great move for blackberry to have a bbm as a 3rd party app to droidheads since Android's growth is at an exponential rate right now.

[_StephenBB81]

If other sites were posting pics MAYBE I'd start to believe it.

But that is the only site getting the leaks, and the first set looked brutal,

I am Sure RIM is trying BBM on Android/iOS devices over the BES, as it ads value to BES, but I wouldn't do it over BIS if I was them.

As for smoke = fire,
It could be one dedicated site to the rumor, say it enough and people believe it.
Just like Ford purchasing a large stake in RIMM when it fell below 20.75 a share.

Will Ford buy out RIM? One can only hope

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[m23haz]

I just wonder what RIM's thoughts behind this are if it is true. Do they think it will help keep current Blackberry users with RIM and stop the defection to other platforms by allowing people to stay in touch with their Android/iOS friends? Are the thinking it will entice people on other platforms to try out the full Blackberry experience in the future if they like a watered down version of BBM? Or are they just thinking that people will pay for BBM and it will create another revenue stream to hold them over until they get QNX phones to where they are competitive? I think its a combination of all of the above. Knowing the way RIM thinks though I am sure they think it will move people to BB but I think it will do the opposite.

To be honest I brought this up because to me this would really signal a big shift and it worries me. I think the ship could sink even faster if this happens and I really don't want RIM to go away. I've lost 4 BBM contacts over the past 2 days as they moved to the iPhone 4S. My Blackberry friends have been dropping like flies. Even ones who I never thought would leave. It's sad.

[timmsy]

if we are getting andriod marketplace i am really not surprised if RIM had to cross platform something in return to tell the truth arent you?

[_StephenBB81]

I have lost a few bb friends to iPhone 4S, really one 1 I actually Miss on my bbm.
I really expect RIM to make BBM for other platforms within a BES enviroment, the device being assigned an internal PIN by the BES,

I really would hope I really fear that RIM needs to address the 8 char alphanumeric PIN sequence with QNX and open it up to 10 Char, with a potential Billion Mobile devices over the next 3 years, opening up BBM would put the limitation on the PIN system, they need to look long term, and implement before it becomes an issue

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[_StephenBB81]

if we are getting andriod marketplace i am really not surprised if RIM had to cross platform something in return to tell the truth arent you?

RIM getting Android Marketplace is a WIN for Google, they make money on another platform, they wouldn't need a give and take senario,

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Economist101]

if we are getting andriod marketplace i am really not surprised if RIM had to cross platform something in return to tell the truth arent you?

As DeRusset notes, expanding the reach of Android apps is in Google's best interest, as it falls directly into their business model. Not so for RIM (or any other hardware manufacturer), each of whom make their money from hardware sales. The concern about cross-platform BBM is that whatever revenue it brings to RIM won't make up for lost hardware sales, as margins on phones at RIM are very healthy and lucrative. This is the most likely reason no such cross-platform BBM client exists yet.

[phonegeek#AC]

It wouldn't surprise me if it was true and it wouldn't surprise me if its not...

Generally having the basic BBM functionality across other platforms may work, especially if RIM can license it as part of android OS...


PG

[jasonvw]

Would be a huge mistake to do it now. Even if they charge like $2/month they'd still end up losing out on the money they make from the bis monthly charges. If qnx ends up failing then its time to go software only. Allow bis and bbm on other phones.

[Elysa_38]

I think RIM could take advantage of this and charge for the service on a monthly fee. i wouldnt purchase an android and having to buy my data plan plus regular plan fee and on top of that another fee for BBM. Im not saying i dont want the idea to be successful but that would help from BB members jumping ships. just my thought... and by monthly fee i mean a good 9.99 a month no 1$ . BBM is RIMs baby, its what keeps many users in other countries with RIM and many of us here because i have many friends who have BB for that reason to connect with family across the world on a cheaper base.

[Delil]

I have lost a few bb friends to iPhone 4S, really one 1 I actually Miss on my bbm.
I really expect RIM to make BBM for other platforms within a BES enviroment, the device being assigned an internal PIN by the BES,

I really would hope I really fear that RIM needs to address the 8 char alphanumeric PIN sequence with QNX and open it up to 10 Char, with a potential Billion Mobile devices over the next 3 years, opening up BBM would put the limitation on the PIN system, they need to look long term, and implement before it becomes an issue

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

the 8 char alphanumeric PIn gives them
26 possible letters and 10 possible numbers
==> this means 36^8 (36 power 8) = 36*36*36*36*36*36*36*36 possible PINS

==> 2'821'109'907'456. Thats a huge freaking number. So I wouldn't worry about that :-).

[allengeorge]

Based on BBM Music's pricing, I wouldn't be surprised to see a $3/mo pricepoint for BBM on Android (high enough to avoid cannibalizing BIS fees, but low enough not to be flat-out unreasonable) Seriously though, I think RIM may be able to get away with a .99c/mo fee, but they're definitely going to lose a lot of Android customers, especially when there are already a ton of free, feature-rich alternatives.

[_StephenBB81]

the 8 char alphanumeric PIn gives them
26 possible letters and 10 possible numbers
==> this means 36^8 (36 power 8) = 36*36*36*36*36*36*36*36 possible PINS

==> 2'821'109'907'456. Thats a huge freaking number. So I wouldn't worry about that :-).

I do agree it is a large number, though not as large as you have listed with Alphanumeric you don't usually get O,L,I because of the potential mix up with 0 ,1
Which now cuts your huge number in half 1,406,408,618,242.
RIM has already used over 100,000,000 Pins,

Still a very large number, but looking at other potential uses for PIN's in a BES environment it can be seen that very quickly you can eat up 1.4 Trillion

[iN8ter]

Android Users can just use ChatOn.

There's no need for BBM on Android, and I don't think that many people want it since the market is already flooded with IM applications and BBM isn't that much better than many of them, if at all. ChatOn matches it feature for feature in almost every way. The only thing obviously missing is S/D/R tags on messages. It's gonna be built into future Samsung Android/Bada phones and may even come on their Feature Phones. iOS and Android versions on the way.

If they wanted to get BBM to other platforms, they should have done that a long time ago, IMO.

One of the main reasons for younger folk dropping BBs here is the fact that their BBM contact lists are shrinking down to nothingness. It was the only differentiating feature of their devices that drove them to get a BB over an iOS/Android/whatever device.