BBM Coming to the iPhone!

[Calidude]

I think I may the only person here who doesn't know anyone with a Blackberry.

Everyone always get excited about BBM but I honestly can't think of a single person I know who I'd use it with.

It's about 4/3/3 in terms of people who use iPhone/Android/BB amongst my friends so yes, there does need to be a messenger that can work for all 3 but RIM sued Kik and kicked them out out of the BB App World even though all they were trying to do was provide that very cross platform environment I was talking about.

 

[Interstella5555]

I think I may the only person here who doesn't know anyone with a Blackberry.

Everyone always get excited about BBM but I honestly can't think of a single person I know who I'd use it with.

How can you live in the District and not know anyone with a BB????

 

[Interstella5555]

well RIM motive is to get rid of the 3rd party guys like, Kik, whatsapp, ping chat, and Apples motive is to give their customers something else keep them happy and try to get more customers

Right, that would be motivation for RIM to keep it on BB's, I'm not sure that Apple has really ever shown that they're motivated to keep updating the message app.

 

[charliehustle]

Why are people so obsessed with BBM? If you read the article you won't be able to send pictures/video/location so basically you're back to an Original iPhone/3G for messaging? In any case, I know 4 people that have an iPhone, but I don't think I know someone who doesn't have unlimited messaging. BBM seems like something of the past.

Ya, I don't think BBM will survive on IOS if it isn't the full version. The reason people like is because it's got things like group chat, which whats app does not have, it also allows you to update your picture and stuff like that.. it's like a mini facebook for people on BBM.. I have an iphone and a BB for work, and the BBM is so good for having the groups option, we have different chats just for police road blocks with like over 100 people in it, so if you see a police road block, you zap it to BBM and everyone else knows..

 

[heisenberg123]

Ya, I don't think BBM will survive on IOS if it isn't the full version. The reason people like is because it's got things like group chat, which whats app does not have, it also allows you to update your picture and stuff like that.. it's like a mini facebook for people on BBM.. I have an iphone and a BB for work, and the BBM is so good for having the groups option, we have different chats just for police road blocks with like over 100 people in it, so if you see a police road block, you zap it to BBM and everyone else knows..

whatapps latest update included group chats

 

[heisenberg123]

Right, that would be motivation for RIM to keep it on BB's, I'm not sure that Apple has really ever shown that they're motivated to keep updating the message app.

sometimes kill the competition is just as important as keeping your customers in the corporate world

 

[charliehustle]

whatapps latest update included group chats

You mean on the next update? cuz I tried to look for it now and couldn't find it.. In the settings under notifications I found group message sounds, but can't figure how to add people to a group or start a group to start with

 

[heisenberg123]

You mean on the next update? cuz I tried to look for it now and couldn't find it..

lol no it's there it's on the chat tab pull the screen down it's above the search bar

 

[Reach9]

BBM on iPhone? Blah. We already have WhatsApp.

 

[Calidude]

You mean on the next update? cuz I tried to look for it now and couldn't find it.. In the settings under notifications I found group message sounds, but can't figure how to add people to a group or start a group to start with

Yep, it's there. You aren't looking hard enough. It's even on the Whatsapp blog.

http://whatsapp.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/group-chat/

Of course, however, Whatsapp only allows group chats with 5 other people max, which is yet another reason why I will never use it.

 

[heisenberg123]

BBM on iPhone? Blah. We already have WhatsApp.

i know ive been arguing that for the last few hours but some people think its missing something, but they dont really say what that something is

 

[charliehustle]

lol no it's there it's on the chat tab pull the screen down it's above the search bar

sick.. thats dope.. I was trying to figure it out .. I never pull down on the tab.. thanks a lot.

 

[jw nyc]

all these can be done with whatsapp, pingchat, beejive and others and they are already out! the 3 people i know with a blackberry all use whatsapp or pingchat instead of BBM....

Nope, not true.

 

[heisenberg123]

Nope, not true.

everything but read receipts, delivery receipts are good enough for most

 

[jw nyc]

everything but read receipts, delivery receipts are good enough for most

That and the whole user experience isn't as good.

 

[heisenberg123]

That and the whole user experience isn't as good.

i dont know about that, on BBM my contacts changed there names so often i couldnt keep track of who was who half the time, whatsapps calls them whatever you call that phone number in your address book so no confusion

 

[jw nyc]

i dont know about that, on BBM my contacts changed there names so often i couldnt keep track of who was who half the time, whatsapps calls them whatever you call that phone number in your address book so no confusion

You could also rename contacts on BBM to whatever you want and it will stay that way.

 

[heisenberg123]

sick.. thats dope.. I was trying to figure it out .. I never pull down on the tab.. thanks a lot.

no problem I was having a hard time finding it at first but I remembered it was in the update description

 

[heisenberg123]

You could also rename contacts on BBM to whatever you want and it will stay that way.

i use to hear if you changed a name and they changed it again it caused delivery errors is that not the case anymore?

also renaming 100 contacts in bbm seems like a bad expierence when whatsapp alreadys names them what you set up in your contacts

 

[jw nyc]

i use to hear if you changed a name and they changed it again it caused delivery errors is that not the case anymore?

also renaming 100 contacts in bbm seems like a bad expierence when whatsapp alreadys names them what you set up in your contacts

Most people give themselves their real name and don't change it. For the few that liked to change it, I just renamed them myself. Never had any type of delivery issues after doing this (nor have I heard about such an issue) when I had a Blackberry so I'm not sure what you're talking about.

 

[heisenberg123]

Most people give themselves their real name and don't change it. For the few that liked to change it, I just renamed them myself. Never had any type of delivery issues after doing this (nor have I heard about such an issue) when I had a Blackberry so I'm not sure what you're talking about.

just thought I recall reading it on crackberry forums when I had a blackberry

 

[Leet Apple]

Thanks, that's helpful and what I was asking. I still don't get the love affair with BBM but for people who've used it on their BB, I can see why they'd want it on the iPhone. I'm not convinced that non ex-blackberry users will flock to it though.

As an Ex-Crackberry Addict, BBM just gets boring after awhile the more contacts you have the worst Broadcast Messages are....

 

[TruckdriverSean]

fair enough so if whatsapp had the "read" feature would it be missing anything else?

confirming it was delivered is great becasue SMS sometimes never make it to the person, do you have an example of why knowing they read it is that important?

do people ignore you and you need confirmation of this?

While I've never had a BB or used BBM, this "confirm read" feature could be a critical thing in the business world.

Let's say that it's 11:30pm and you suddenly realize you need Joe to stop by and pick up the widget from a vendor on his way to work tomorrow. This is critical. You'll be in a world of hurt tomorrow if it doesn't happen. You send a standard SMS and there's no reply. You send an email and still no reply.

Should you call him and wake up the whole family? Will he check his phone in the morning in time? Maybe he's "busy" right now? Maybe the network is on the fritz again.

With a "confirm read" feature, you could rest easy KNOWING he got the message, and all is good.

 

[ImStrapped]

I really don't have time to list them out (should be studying legal ethics), if you search this forum you'll find many discussions on the topic. Besides, I doubt I'd convince you or anyone else here about the advantages. BBM is something you need to use for a while before you understand how much better it is. It doesn't have flashy specs on paper, but its real-life usability is unmatched.

It's also somewhat of a function of age/demographic. A soccer mom/dad sending a handful of texts a month won't know the difference, but give BBM to some of the kids who send tens of thousands of texts a month and they'll never go back.

you explained this perfectly, there is just something with using it over time that makes you realize how valuable it can be.
especially to younger generations.

 

[TruckdriverSean]

After reading this thread I can now say that I'm convinced about the awesomeness of BBM.

But I have to rain some doubt on this parade.

Even IF BB were to offer a full featured BBM experience (which it sounds like they won't), this will end up being a failure. No 3rd party messaging has ever made it past cult/fad status even though SMS rates are ridiculous. The fact that just restarting your iPhone or running RAM intensive apps means that the app quits or isn't logged-in kills all chances that people will rely on it as a real replacement to the 100% on, 100% of the time reliability of standard SMS.

The only way I can see this working is if RIM liscenses the technology of BBM to Apple, Google, and Mr. Softy too.

Then BBM can be integrated into the core OS of the handsets and we could see it become the natural replacement to the standard SMS.

I'd gladly pay an extra $5 for my phone (to cover the liscense fee) if it meant we could get all the features of BBM, and never have to pay for SMS packages again.