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When Blackberry Messenger for Android was announced, we were pretty excited. It wasn’t necessarily because BBM is still this great, mystical messaging service that only a few select people had access to, but because we’d finally be able to chat with our friends who were too stubborn to drop Blackberry. The release date was initially set for “this summer,” but we might have a tighter idea of what that means.
According to Indian publication IBN Live, Blackberry India’s managing director Sunil Lalvani has pegged Blackberry’s release date by the end of September. That wasn’t a terribly tough guesstimation considering the original launch window of “end of summer” lies on September 22nd,” but that could have meant any month between now and then.
The biggest question is this: who still cares? After thinking about it, there really is no reason to be too excited. Perhaps we’d feel differently if it were still 2010 and Android didn’t already take off, but considering how the mobile industry has changed over the short course of just a few years the magnitude of the release isn’t nearly as big.
For starters, who still owns Blackberry devices? I know it’s still a big deal in enterprise, but the common consumer has voted with their wallet — even Windows Phone is more of a viable option at this point in time. (And that’s not a shot at Windows Phone, but it’s just the way things are.) I don’t know anyone who owns a Blackberry device anymore, so there’s no reason for me to want to sign up for BBM.
Conversely, those who still have a Blackberry device probably aren’t using BBM much anymore, either — all their friends have moved on to Android and iOS, and they’re already likely invested in a device-agnostic service that already exists.
Services like GroupMe and WhatsApp have quickly taken over as nice alternatives, and Google Hangouts will surely make its way to the likes of Blackberry and Windows phone eventually. If group messaging is still your thing, Blackberry Messenger is no longer the holy grail, and is little more than a token of nostalgic memories.
Care? Not in the slightest.
Whats Blackberry Messenger?
Why would I care about it?
Its not 2005.
Well, I could be wrong, but I believe Blackberry Messenger is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era.
Brilliant! Nailed it!
I think that BBM have a better security system… than others Instant Messaging Services.
Nowadays we all know that everything is going to fall into the NSA’s hands, so what’s the difference?
Nope, don’t know anybody who owns a bbry
Perhaps you’ve heard of president Obama?
no…nobody cares
No.
The one person I know with a BB will be thrilled to know I can finally get in touch with them.
Indonesian care
Actually I care, I can now talk to my suborn iPhone friends that wont switch, Only 1 of my friends has an Android and he hates it for being useless. The BB10 hardware is that same as everyone else if not better in some regards. It is a matter if you like the OS or not and need 100 million apps to make you happy. A lot of people that use WhatsApp, once BBM comes out for all platforms BBM will become the new cross platform messenger that I beleive peopel would pay a $1 a month for
I’ll have to disagree with you sir.
WhatsApp is already cross platform and they dropped their mandatory price on iOS. In addition to being free and cross platform that they already have a huge base of users.
Who’s kidding who? Its the same story as their BB10 phones. They are decent phones, but they came out way too late and because of that delay they lost most of their user base and left them with a kitty litter taste in their mouths.
Oh and i still do use blackberry for work and i do enjoy physical qwerty keyboard. I also hope BB will improve their OS and phone usability but there is small chance of that.
Uhhh.. google hangouts is already cross platform and is FREE.
Get new friends that actually have good taste and that should solve your problem.
I love google, but Hangouts SUCKS. You cant mute the sound on desktop only, you cant tell if people are online. Hangouts leaves ALOT to be desired.
The only thing I hate about Hangouts(Which I uninstalled when I found out) that you can’t see whos online.. really bad move there…
Whachou talkin’ ’bout Willis? You can see who’s online. Offline contacts are greyed over and online are fully visible. Not the best and easiest to see indicator, but it’s not absent.
huh… I’ll check into that… wtf? Willis? D:
LOL, you must be under 30. All those over 30 know “Whachou talkin’ ’bout Willis?”
I am under 30 (:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0t2esR4BX1r3x77fo1_500.gif , from a show called the
Sounds like you don’t follow technology much.
Or people, for that matter. Pay for what they can get free?
Pay? People will spend countless hours (and sometimes cash) looking for a way to hack a paywall and you think they’ll pay for what others already offer free?
And if you’re using Blackberry still, it’s not your friends who are stubborn…
are u telling me that BBM app for Droid i will have to pay for ??…i’ll pass
There are zero people I know still using BBM, so no. This would have been exciting, maybe in 2009 or 2010.
Well if you don’t know anyone using BBM, then it must be useless.
To me, yes. Completely useless to me.
Ah! That’s what I missed. It’s all about you.
I never represented my opinion being about anyone other than myself. The headline asked if anyone would care? I posted my own response, representing me, as is typically done for single signature items such as this post. Not terribly sure why this gets your panties in a bunch.
Yeah, people are weird.
I’m sure there will be people who use it, but majority will overlook it.
Hilarious, well said.
Should have done this 3 years ago when they were relevant. They could have shed their antiquated hardware and became a software and services company (a la IBM). They had the best services by far, but failed to monetize on them when the touchscreen smartphone market took off.
TL;DR: too little too late.
Evolve quickly or die in this mobile industry right? Shame.
RIM (now blackberry) had plenty of opportunities to evolve but they chose not to. This was a problem years in the making but their mismanagement is what killed them.
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Too little, too late. I use
Whatsapp and so do all my friends. Whatsapp costs peanuts to use (around
69p a year after your 1 or 2 years of free service) and it works on
pretty much every platform. It’s got a huge amount of features and is
continually improving.
*searches around for a care *
“Who cares” Very US centric question. Perhaps when you guys travel abroad more on non geek related trips–and interact the common user–you might have a clearer idea of who cares.
Why would a bunch of Android users want to be BBM’ing each other using an app less superior to Hangouts? And don’t tell me your going to use it because your friends have Blackberry’s. We all know that is not the case. pshhhh
hangouts isnt superior to bbm 5 years ago honestly…it takes my phone 30 seconds to open hangouts its so annoying…and u can only send pics no other files…stupid things google needs to fix
and in respect to whatsapp u can send full hd videos on that thing with no problem…whatsapp is awesome but no one in the states really f’s with it…only people i talk to on it are canadian girls ive met on vacation to be honest
Too little, too late. I use Whatsapp and so do all my friends. Whatsapp costs peanuts to use (around 69p a year after your 1 or 2 years of free service) and it works on pretty much every platform. It’s got a huge amount of features and is continually improving.
What is a Blackberry?
Americans love dualopolies…..how’s that working for your political system?
what is this BBM that you speak of? and where do i buy a black? berry? blackberry? i have heard of this mythical device a long, long, time ago…in a galaxy far,far away….
I might be able to finally use this to convince some of my more stubborn iOS friends to finally get on the Hangouts app. I think it’s more due to laziness that they won’t, and tout the iMessage/facetime as reasons I should get an iPhone (not going to happen) and get out of the stone ages with Android; although every one of them swears by gmail and maps. They are all ex BB users, and I have a feeling BBM will be a bit buggy/quirky at first for iOS and Android, so maybe I can use it as a segway to push them to Hangouts.
used bbm it 2008-2010 and i will be downloading again, not many people use it but whatsapp sucks now, and people will switch back!
Can NSA read our messages through BBM? I think I remember Saudi Arabia or another kingdom/dictatorship in the middle east that wanted the backdoor avaialbe to them and BBM said no. If NSA hates BBM, Ill be a fan :)
Yes at this point we understand that cross platform messaging apps exist such as whatsapp in addition to a bunch of others; but guys make no mistake once bbm is actually released for ios and android people will flock to it just out of brand recognition and the news it will generate alone. This is eventually going to become the standard between all 3 platforms in the messaging category just as facebook and twitter are the standard social applications.
Yet another example of “if you stop innovating, you die”
yawwwwwnnnnn
I do know one guy that still uses a BB, I will pass this onto him. He’ll be so excited.
Wow that’s a nice S4 case
Another ‘expert’ review from a tech blogger who has never used the product…diddo for the the regular Blackberry bashing commentors.
re: little more than a token of nostalgic memories.
More than 40 million users and its a ‘token’? Nothing like an objective and intelligent observation, thanks for the informative read.
If they’re starting with 40 million users how many do you expect when it goes cross platform? 80 million seems like a conservative estimate after the first year.
Doesn’t it come pre-installed? How many of the people that have it on their phones use it on a consistent basis? Not as many as you may think…
There’s close to 70MM BB users currently, the 40MM BBM user number counts only those who actively use the service.
re: Not as many as you may think…
Blackberry has reported active and non-active users. The 40+ mil was very active users. Perhaps you should ‘think’ a little more before bashing something?
How am I supposed to know that blackberry reported that? He didn’t include a link…I would think most people would think that was a reported user base by BBM that wasn’t all active. Especially considering how few users they have nowadays.
I apologize for not googling information before accusing Blackberry of giving pumped up numbers.
BlackBerry Messenger? This isn’t gonna be a big hit…Go home BlackBerry, you’re drunk.
How many downloads does it take to be considered a big hit? Over 100,000 downloaded the fake one. I think lots of people will download it.
blackberry are a group of idiots…couple years ago when i finally made the plunge from my bb to the og droid i woulda paid 5 dollars to get bbm on my device…id even paid a dollar or w.e whatsapp charges something similar a year afterwards to still have my beloved bbm…now they missed that boat…bbm was ahead of its time n put bb on the map they should have realized when they could have made money and took the plunge at least theyd have peoples bb service payments and make some sort of profit instead of nothing and no one buying bb cellphones
I still have LOADS of friends with Blackberry phones that actively use BBM. So if the app is free (which I strongly hope it is, mostly for the benefit of Blackberry thenselves rather than my tight wallet) then I’ll pick this up. At the end of the day, it’s just another way of communicating with people. Can never have too many of them, right?
Unless it’s integrated seamlessly into texting like iMessage, supporting encrypted messages, emotes, read receipts, long messages, MMS pictures/video/etc., then it’s pointless.
The main thing Android still needs is a unified messaging app like iMessage does.
who needs BBM for android? the BLACKsheeps rawr!
i agree,but people in my counrty(indonesia) still use blackberry phone,tons of them
This will be useful if people are looking for another alternative cross platform messaging app. Yea it’s late to the game and we already have apps like whatsapp and google hangouts to use. I prefer What’s app since you can basically use it to send pictures, files, etc. Only thing is after a year, you need to pay. yea i know its only $0.99 but i prefer my free apps. The funny thing is I recently linked my GV number to Whatsapp on my older phone and it says the service expiration is Lifetime. Where as on my current phone expiration date is next year. How does that work? As far as Hangouts go, i have seen my usage of this app go down since it went Google Talk to Hangouts. Probably for the fact that you can’t really see if someone is online or not(the grayed out thing is a hit or miss) And google needs to integrate Voice into Hangouts already so I can send and receive MMS.
If BBM can offer the same features as Whatspp but keep it free then i may give it a shot.
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