Blackberry have announced BBM for Android! FREE

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Blackberry have announced that they will be releasing a version of BBM for the iPhone and Android later in the summer! Whoa!
 
Good move IMO, they can clean up the cross platform messaging market.

Rizza
 
Good move IMO, they can clean up the cross platform messaging market.

Rizza
Not so sure myself because that would surely cannibalise BB hardware sales if school kids can get bank of mum and dad to buy any Android hanset instead
 
Not so sure myself because that would surely cannibalise BB hardware sales if school kids can get bank of mum and dad to buy any Android hanset instead

That's exactly the point, that's already happening. This move keeps BlackBerry relevant and in peoples thoughts at least, so they may consider moving back to BlackBerry once BB10 handsets are more mature, at an affordable price point and have had some marketing fairy dust sprinkled over them.

If BlackBerry offer BBM to other platforms, while also showing potential and existing customers that BB10 offers BBM, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter etc in a single, unified view so they can talk to all their 'friends' from one place - rather than many individual Apps to hop in and out of - they may regain some ground.
 
I agree, whatsapp in particular had breached the uniqueness BBM gave the BlackBerry platform, but the key here is that BlackBerry has to produce a range of handsets that will tempt people back, otherwise this may work against them.... actually that's just repeating what RobM posted.

Rizza
 
BBM is free to install for android but free bbm text for android can't say......
 
Surely it isn't available to download yet? I thought they said it would be in the summer?
 
Too little, too late.

Whatsapp is cleaning up, opening up bbm would have been the best strategy 5 years ago. Doing it now only slows the decline.
 
Still can't decide if this is a good idea or not.

First things first though, whilst WhatsApp is a viable alternative, it's nowhere near as good as BBM. In particular, WhatsApp is less secure which is why the encyrpted BBM is the corporate bod, revolutionists and hoodies IM of choice. Then there's the fact that anyone can message you on WhatsApp providing they have your phone number. And a few years ago, WhatsApp was found to snoop through your address book and spam contacts by telling them you were on WhatsApp without any user intervention.

So, BBM then; on the one hand, it's a stupid move by BlackBerry. Giving away your USP and providing one less reason to buy a BB handset is not the way to grow market share and encourage new users to the platform. It's tantamount to BlackBerry admitting defeat and that they can't and won't win back the deserters. A lot of people buy a BB purely for the messaging capability so making this available on other platforms won't encourage people to try the new handsets or OS 10, especially since Android is so ubiquitous.

On the other hand though, it's a smart move by BlackBerry. Punters who might have been put off buying a BB because all their friends are on Android or iPhones might now be tempted, especially that BB is the *the* premier messaging phone. It might also stop people dumping BB in droves because they want a single cross platform messenger and the preference is BBM for security and flexibility.

BlackBerry have already said the other versions will be cut down so it looks like voice calls and all the other goodies will remain BB exclusives although for how long is anyone's guess.

As an aside, we've been rolling out the Q10 globally here and whilst the battery life is stellar, hardly anyone prefers OS 10 with the main complaints being it's too abstract (no menu's and structure), relies too heavily on gestures and that it's too confusing. Sure, there's a steep learning curve involved but, and I agree with this point, people in the corporate world don't have time to learn a new UI from scratch, they just want to get on with doing their job (in the case of the executive board, whatever the hell that is).
 
Still can't decide if this is a good idea or not.

First things first though, whilst WhatsApp is a viable alternative, it's nowhere near as good as BBM. In particular, WhatsApp is less secure which is why the encyrpted BBM is the corporate bod, revolutionists and hoodies IM of choice. Then there's the fact that anyone can message you on WhatsApp providing they have your phone number. And a few years ago, WhatsApp was found to snoop through your address book and spam contacts by telling them you were on WhatsApp without any user intervention.
Whatsapp has cleaned up it's act and I don't think the target audience cares very much about encryption....... however, I think BBM will blow it out of the water because of it's free, functionally superior and still has a massive user base.

..... On the other hand though, it's a smart move by BlackBerry. Punters who might have been put off buying a BB because all their friends are on Android or iPhones might now be tempted, especially that BB is the *the* premier messaging phone. It might also stop people dumping BB in droves because they want a single cross platform messenger and the preference is BBM for security and flexibility.
I believe this is the way things would go, it's a smart move, but as RobM posted, only if it's matched by rapid development and improvements with handsets otherwise it will be a terminal surrender.

Rizza
 
Not long to go now, September 21st launch confirmed for Android devices.

Does anyone know how contacts are added? If it's by email or a generated PIN then it's time for me to do some persuading to get friends and family to download it. Been using Whatsapp for a while now but quite put off by the fact you have to share your mobile number. The 'last online' status update is also annoying.
 
Must be getting ready to allow any one to use app, as the app can't find a network connection, and I am on my WiFi, which is online fine... Must be opening it up for emails that aren't white listed now then :) I wonder if it'll be in the store at midnight? 1379712572623.jpg
 
Where did you get that from? Just looked on the play store and there are loads of fake BBM apps, honestly Google needs to tighten things up.

Rizza
 
The official apk leaked ages ago... Just loops on the setup page because my blackberry ID isn't white listed for the beta trial

There is a persistent notification in the notification bar saying if your connected or not, probably able to remove it in settings, but can't get that far at the moment as not white listed to log in
 
App meant to go live on play store at 12pm
 
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I thought I read it goes live at 7am EDT which is 12noon UK time.

Rizza

Edit - On second reading it's the same thing you posted
 
App not in the store yet, but the leaked one has gone live now

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