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BlackBerry Messenger Coming to iOS This Summer

yorkshire said:
I must be in the minority here but I'm actually looking forward to this. I know a lot of people with Blackberries so it will be nice to have everyone connected together. Whatsapp works well, but it's quite an ugly interface I think, so it will be good to see what RIM brings to the table.
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I don't know about you being in the minority, when the time comes, BBM will have a lot of downloads in the AppStore.

Me and close to 20 friends all had BlackBerry's and had a group, BBM was the best messaging and group chats, we all have iPhone's now, we use the "best" messaging app for iPhone, Whatsapp, and it has nothing to do with BBM.

So when the time comes, all of us will download BBM and if it performs the same as it does with a BlackBerry device, it will be our number 1 messaging app.

Even if we all have iPhones this could be the best messaging app for the iOS.

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0dev said:
For reasons I explain here, I think this could very well be a smart move. A gamble for sure though.

I'm looking forward to this anyway. BBM is miles better than WhatsApp and the only reason anyone uses WhatsApp is because it's a cross-platform alternative to BBM. Well now BBM is cross-platform.
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It think this is good for BlackBerry, although making it free I don't think it's the way to go, people might be concerned about ads or something hidden.

They should make the first month free, then charge 1, 2 or 3 dlls.

Even if we all have iPhones this could be the best messaging app for the iOS.

And yes, like someone said here, this is a move so that people who have and love BlackBerry's don't switch to another brand do to lack of cross-platform connectivity via BBM.
 
I just don't see how people can go and say "This is stupid, I don't see any use to this" just because it's not right for them, come on, it's all about having an open mind, not everything is targeted to your neighborhood and your 8 friends.

This is a good move for BlackBerry, worst case scenario, if in the end they can't sell a single smartphone, they can go on with the software business.

Don't go and say, "This is stupid" what if maybe, just maybe, BlackBerry goes the Android way, and this their way to start doing that.

Can you imagine a BlackBerry Porsche Design with Android, I think a lot of people will want that, one thing about BlackBerrys is they are great looking phones that can resist a lot a damage, the BB Z10 is a great looking phone.

I am an Apple fan, but I am not a fanboy and I can see the good in others.
 
Daremo said:
Apple announced on the day they released Facetime it was going to be cross platform. The reason it hasn't happened yet, is Apple was sued by the patent troll VirnetX, who owns the patent on this tech, so it's been tied up in court, and which Apple lost and had to pay $368 Million to them. So until this is dealt with, It can't go cross platform... Yet.
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Guess that's what I missed.
 
CristobalHuet said:
Where are the BlackBerry experts to tell us that our phones don't have BBM now? :rolleyes:

Is there any real reason to buy a BlackBerry anymore, if there even was one before?
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There would have been several if BB had not messed up by eliminating the unique BB email address together with their own push service. The actual workflow for emails on the original devices was much better and faster. And then there is still the form factor that some of us find superior over the iPhone 5 (or the new BB Z10 for that matter). That includes also the physical keyboard.

For those of us who rely on fast emails in more than one account every day Apple still has a lot of work to do. If BB goes bust (which I expect) it would be nice if Apple bought it together with the patents to give us back the original email experience to some degree. Would be sweet to have the BB-OS7 (or earlier) email app and the flashing light and profile settings available.

BBM on the other hand I never used and cared for as little as for the iMessenger or whatever it's called.
 
somethingelsefl said:
Apple didn't HAVE to do anything. Apple didn't HAVE to invite MS to bring Office to the Mac platform, either.

I think you try to simplify things too much and brush things aside when the overall message is this: consumers seem to appreciate cross-platform compatibility...and it's not a sign of an ailing company to create cross-platform products. Apple succeeded in the past by doing and has only recently shut it doors to other services (i.e. backing off Safari support for Windows). It's a bad long-term business model, just ask Sony how their support for 'Memory Sticks' is coming along. Consumers don't like it.
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Actually Apple did "have to" do that if they hoped to ever have a chance with businesses. And why did Microsoft do it? Because they actually sell office and make money on it. They don't give it away for free... Like BBM will likely be.
 
BBM would have meant something 5 or 6 years ago, but is totally irrelevant today. Their ship has sailed and BB is at the back of the pack in the "who cares" zone!
 
Everyone that I know that owns a BlackBerry doesn't use BBM because many of their friends are on Android or iOS. Instead they turn to WhatsApp and other similar services.
 
adder7712 said:
Everyone that I know that owns a BlackBerry doesn't use BBM because many of their friends are on Android or iOS. Instead they turn to WhatsApp and other similar services.
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when i first ditched my bb i has to text everyone since they all still had them, today i have one person that i frequently text that still has a bb, so i dont see many bending back to bbmessenger...to little too late
 
This isn't the message board to come to if you want to logically discuss this move by BB. Most of the users here are incapable of looking beyond the simple minded banter of "who uses Blackberry?" or "They are so done".

Blackberry is planting a seed with this move that could be the basis for huge potential in the future. For starters, someone like myself who is fed up with his iPhone and the simplicity of it (since Apple won't give us any customizability whatsoever, and I need a device properly suited to handle heavy business messaging/email/etc), this instantly increases the attactiveness of switching to a Blackberry phone since I can have my family members with iDevices download the BBM app and retain full functionality (Video/Facetime, messages, etc) with a single app, it makes switching much more viable. This also extends the reach of their BBM mobile payment system they rolled out recently.

They didn't just give away one of their early key features for free without having a strategy behind it. This type of thinking is what usually makes Apple so successful (Taking the risk of cannibalizing sales of their own devices to plant future seeds). I'm not saying they will ultimately be successful, but Blackberry is definitely making moves that are foward thinking towards a "mobile" future. Good for them.
 
This is a good move, especially as Whatsapp is rumored to soon to go subscription only!:mad:

BBM was the only thing I missed when I jumped ship, but now everyone I know that had a BB finally followed suit and bought iPhones and Androids and uses Whatsapp.

So again, if whatsapp does indeed go subscription only and BBMs' free... I will no doubt use BBM and convert everyone I know over.
 
The thing is, a lot of tech geeks hate on BlackBerry because they live in bubbles where they never want anything to change. So to them, BlackBerries are still crap because a lot of them refuse to acknowledge BB10 is actually a more advanced OS than both iOS and Android. And, more to the point, they refuse to believe anyone could possibly have a different opinion to them when it comes to technology.

However, in the bigger picture, this does not matter in the slightest.

Just look at HTC. All the geeks love them right now. But are they doing well? Are they ****. They're practically bankrupt and their new First phone sold so badly it's been discontinued after a month. A lot of geeks - including people on this very forum - have praised that phone because "OMG LOOK STOCK ANDROID AND A SMALL SCREEN THIS IS PERFECT." Yet it failed because that's not what the majority of people want.

The moral? Tech geeks do not represent the population at large and what they say does not matter.

Look at BlackBerry from a non-biased point of view. They have been slipping in recent years because they stuck to their outdated OS for too long. But now they have BB10, they're back in profit. They sold a million Z10's before they even released it in all markets (and before it hit the US). No US carrier has dropped it and in fact they're all picking up the Q10, so clearly they're not having much trouble getting them out of stores. And look at the Q10 release in the UK - lines of people queuing up to buy them at full price!

Not to mention that, this year, the stock has gone up by 32%. Even the historically skeptical stock market is looking at BBRY favourably right now.

All of this is even before they've released their most popular device - the Curve replacement. Right now nothing running Android beats it - the low end Android phones are all terrible. Handsets like the Nokia Lumia 520 represent reasonable competition but the Q5 that was announced yesterday still has better specs than any low end Windows Phone device. Plus it will thrash those devices on battery life. And don't forget, the BlackBerry brand itself is still very strong in a lot of emerging markets, and the Q5 is what those emerging markets will buy. That will generate a lot of sales.

The fact that BlackBerry are putting out BBM for competing platforms solidifies all of this. They are saying they have enough confidence in their lineup that they don't need to rest on their laurels and rely on BBM as they have in the past. They have put a lot of work into their new OS and new hardware and they want to let the phones speak for themselves.

Of course, BlackBerry isn't going to be wildly successful like Android, at least not any time soon. But are they going to be the solid third place? Yes, I think so. And they certainly aren't going anywhere just yet.
 
0dev said:
The thing is, a lot of tech geeks hate on BlackBerry because they live in bubbles where they never want anything to change. So to them, BlackBerries are still crap because a lot of them refuse to acknowledge BB10 is actually a more advanced OS than both iOS and Android. And, more to the point, they refuse to believe anyone could possibly have a different opinion to them when it comes to technology.

However, in the bigger picture, this does not matter in the slightest.

Just look at HTC. All the geeks love them right now. But are they doing well? Are they ****. They're practically bankrupt and their new First phone sold so badly it's been discontinued after a month. A lot of geeks - including people on this very forum - have praised that phone because "OMG LOOK STOCK ANDROID AND A SMALL SCREEN THIS IS PERFECT." Yet it failed because that's not what the majority of people want.

The moral? Tech geeks do not represent the population at large and what they say does not matter.

Look at BlackBerry from a non-biased point of view. They have been slipping in recent years because they stuck to their outdated OS for too long. But now they have BB10, they're back in profit. They sold a million Z10's before they even released it in all markets (and before it hit the US). No US carrier has dropped it and in fact they're all picking up the Q10, so clearly they're not having much trouble getting them out of stores. And look at the Q10 release in the UK - lines of people queuing up to buy them at full price!

Not to mention that, this year, the stock has gone up by 32%. Even the historically skeptical stock market is looking at BBRY favourably right now.

All of this is even before they've released their most popular device - the Curve replacement. Right now nothing running Android beats it - the low end Android phones are all terrible. Handsets like the Nokia Lumia 520 represent reasonable competition but the Q5 that was announced yesterday still has better specs than any low end Windows Phone device. Plus it will thrash those devices on battery life. And don't forget, the BlackBerry brand itself is still very strong in a lot of emerging markets, and the Q5 is what those emerging markets will buy. That will generate a lot of sales.

The fact that BlackBerry are putting out BBM for competing platforms solidifies all of this. They are saying they have enough confidence in their lineup that they don't need to rest on their laurels and rely on BBM as they have in the past. They have put a lot of work into their new OS and new hardware and they want to let the phones speak for themselves.

Of course, BlackBerry isn't going to be wildly successful like Android, at least not any time soon. But are they going to be the solid third place? Yes, I think so. And they certainly aren't going anywhere just yet.
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Too rational. It doesn't/shouldn't belong here. :D

(Totally agree with you, I don't understand why people are so attached to phones - they take it personally when you don't use the same phone and they get mad trying to convert you. It's just a phone!)
 
Last edited:
They're hoping for a Halo effect.
Just like iTunes brought some Windows users to Mac, as did iPods.
Unfortunately, I don't know if BBM is a good representative of what Blackberry could offer, that is better than iOS.
At its core, it's just another messaging app.
iTunes gave Windows users a glimpse of what its like to navigate on a Mac. iPods gave Windows users a glimpse of good, clutterfree UI and the 'it-just-works' idea - whether or not that is representative to the truth is another matter.
BBM on iPhone? How can that possibly tease iOS users to give BB10 a try?
 
0dev said:
The thing is, a lot of tech geeks hate on BlackBerry because they live in bubbles where they never want anything to change. So to them, BlackBerries are still crap because a lot of them refuse to acknowledge BB10 is actually a more advanced OS than both iOS and Android. And, more to the point, they refuse to believe anyone could possibly have a different opinion to them when it comes to technology.

However, in the bigger picture, this does not matter in the slightest.

Just look at HTC. All the geeks love them right now. But are they doing well? Are they ****. They're practically bankrupt and their new First phone sold so badly it's been discontinued after a month. A lot of geeks - including people on this very forum - have praised that phone because "OMG LOOK STOCK ANDROID AND A SMALL SCREEN THIS IS PERFECT." Yet it failed because that's not what the majority of people want.

The moral? Tech geeks do not represent the population at large and what they say does not matter.

Look at BlackBerry from a non-biased point of view. They have been slipping in recent years because they stuck to their outdated OS for too long. But now they have BB10, they're back in profit. They sold a million Z10's before they even released it in all markets (and before it hit the US). No US carrier has dropped it and in fact they're all picking up the Q10, so clearly they're not having much trouble getting them out of stores. And look at the Q10 release in the UK - lines of people queuing up to buy them at full price!

Not to mention that, this year, the stock has gone up by 32%. Even the historically skeptical stock market is looking at BBRY favourably right now.

All of this is even before they've released their most popular device - the Curve replacement. Right now nothing running Android beats it - the low end Android phones are all terrible. Handsets like the Nokia Lumia 520 represent reasonable competition but the Q5 that was announced yesterday still has better specs than any low end Windows Phone device. Plus it will thrash those devices on battery life. And don't forget, the BlackBerry brand itself is still very strong in a lot of emerging markets, and the Q5 is what those emerging markets will buy. That will generate a lot of sales.

The fact that BlackBerry are putting out BBM for competing platforms solidifies all of this. They are saying they have enough confidence in their lineup that they don't need to rest on their laurels and rely on BBM as they have in the past. They have put a lot of work into their new OS and new hardware and they want to let the phones speak for themselves.

Of course, BlackBerry isn't going to be wildly successful like Android, at least not any time soon. But are they going to be the solid third place? Yes, I think so. And they certainly aren't going anywhere just yet.
Click to expand...

Agreed, EXCEPT, the stock market is most CERTAINLY not looking at Blackberry favorably. There is an epic battle going on between large hedge funds+short sellers, and Blackberry longs. The stock has over a 35% short float now and as you alluded to the US market refuses to acknowledge Blackberry as a viable option.
 
GuitarDTO said:
Agreed, EXCEPT, the stock market is most CERTAINLY not looking at Blackberry favorably. There is an epic battle going on between large hedge funds+short sellers, and Blackberry longs. The stock has over a 35% short float now and as you alluded to the US market refuses to acknowledge Blackberry as a viable option.
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Yeah it's a highly shorted stock, and that's why "analysts" come out with BS reports about high return rates and the like, but what I'm saying is that despite all of this, the stock is still going up!

The past year looks like this:

m127e0M.png


+43.06%! Clearly there are people out there confident of their future success.
 
So I take it Apple will reciprocate, and bring iMessage to the BB? :D :D

Yeah... because that will happen.
 
iLog.Genius said:
Too rational. It doesn't/shouldn't belong here. :D

(Totally agree with you, I don't understand why people are so attached to phones - they take it personally when you don't use the same phone and they get mad trying to convert you. It's just a phone!)
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Exactly. Geeks get too wrapped up in this stuff, so much so that they can't even look at things rationally.

I make a conscious effort never to fall into this trap. I've used everything from the notoriously terrible BlackBerry Curve 8520 to the highly underrated Palm Pre. I always try different platforms because if I stay a fanboy of one all I'm doing is denying myself a device that could be better suited for my needs. Brand loyalty is rarely wise for the consumer.

When it comes to my personal experience with BlackBerries, it's been very mixed. I liked a lot of them, especially the older ones. I used to love my Pearl, that was an awesome phone and it was built like a tank. However they failed to live up to the standards set by iOS and Android until BB10 came out this year, so I stopped using them. Now that they look to be well and truly back on their feet, my next phone (which I'll get in a few months) will be a BlackBerry, and from what I've seen I expect it to be brilliant. The app shortage isn't an issue for me because I have a tablet which is better suited for that stuff anyway.

I'm looking forward to what BlackBerry, and indeed BlackBerry's competition, has in store for us in the many years to come :)
 
0dev said:
Exactly. Geeks get too wrapped up in this stuff, so much so that they can't even look at things rationally.

I make a conscious effort never to fall into this trap. I've used everything from the notoriously terrible BlackBerry Curve 8520 to the highly underrated Palm Pre. I always try different platforms because if I stay a fanboy of one all I'm doing is denying myself a device that could be better suited for my needs. Brand loyalty is rarely wise for the consumer.

When it comes to my personal experience with BlackBerries, it's been very mixed. I liked a lot of them, especially the older ones. I used to love my Pearl, that was an awesome phone and it was built like a tank. However they failed to live up to the standards set by iOS and Android until BB10 came out this year, so I stopped using them. Now that they look to be well and truly back on their feet, my next phone (which I'll get in a few months) will be a BlackBerry, and from what I've seen I expect it to be brilliant. The app shortage isn't an issue for me because I have a tablet which is better suited for that stuff anyway.

I'm looking forward to what BlackBerry, and indeed BlackBerry's competition, has in store for us in the many years to come :)
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All I do is message and e-mail, been using BlackBerry's since 2007, went from 8830 > 9700 > 9780 and now I'm still using a 9900.

I have yet to speak to anyone that has given me a proper answer as to why I'm a sucker for using old technology and why using an iPhone or Android device is better other saying it's cool and you could do so much with it and oh yeah, it's cool.
 
0dev said:
Yeah it's a highly shorted stock, and that's why "analysts" come out with BS reports about high return rates and the like, but what I'm saying is that despite all of this, the stock is still going up!

The past year looks like this:

Image

+43.06%! Clearly there are people out there confident of their future success.
Click to expand...

The +43% is precisely why the shorts are lining up. The problem is, it's not scaring the longs at ALL, because Blackberry stock dropped too far in the first place. +43% and the company shares are still valued beneath the price it would fetch in a liquidation! Blackberry shares are going to go through a short squeeze of epic proportions.

Owning their stock has kept me watching their product line closely, and I've been impressed. I've tried the Z10 out, and while I'm not trading my iPhone 5 for it just yet (a few apps could change that), I am watching their future products closely along with the Samsung Galaxy. This messenger thing makes the transition that much more tempting.
 
Go easy on (all our eggs in one basket, now RIM) Blackberry.

This looks to be their only line of business, going forward.
 
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