Why would an Android or iPhone user install BBM? I don't get the value proposition here. I'm not being disingenuous.
Whatsapp is the closest in terms of achieving true cross-platform usability. It's a great client on BB10, and on Android. That said, I rarely use it since most of my messaging is done via BBM or Facebook. The user engagement just seems to be higher on those platform.
@gehr (Gary Klassen, inventor of BBM) really put it best when he said (paraphrasing) that in general, social networks fit various needs: Twitter - I want to talk to many people at large. LinkedIn - I want to talk to colleagues and business partners. Facebook - I want to talk to my extended friends and family network. BBM - I want to talk to people I really care about.
And that's exactly how it's been for me for the last several years. My BBM contact list is limited to a few key people that I generally talk to or interact with in some capacity. I say and share things on there that I wouldn't anywhere else.
In addition, the new BBM features they've added in BB10, like BBM Voice, BBM Video, and Screen Sharing are pretty freakin fantastic. I use those features daily, and I think it'll be great when it comes to the other platforms. An interesting use case that I've found for Screen Sharing is being able to have users demonstrate issues or bugs they're seeing in my apps.
In any case, there's definitely a place for BBM here. I'll be encouraging a lot of my friends to grab it. Maybe even my parents, though I'm not sure I want to keep getting messages from them, LOL.
Everyone I met in Mexico City used Whatsapp. I suspect BBM caught on in England for the same reason.
They should have release BBM for iPhone and Android 2 years ago.
Depending on your social graph, the 'What? You're not on <insertServiceHere>?' question is what drives a large number of people to use otherwise utterly crappy services (Hey, WhatsApp!). BBM seems to be another niche here.
There is no system of adverts or selling data to it, since they actually charge for usage. I paid after 1 year free about 6 months ago.
I have pretty much every real life friend I care about on there, individually and numerous private groups. We regularly share photos, text, video, locations, etc. privately (as far as we are aware). To me it perfectly fits the box of exactly what a social network should be.
It just works... This is why i'm so intrigued why you dislike it?
http://fileperms.org/whatsapp-is-broken-really-broken/ http://samgranger.com/whatsapp-is-using-imei-numbers-as-pass...
Their security did used to be horrendous though, e.g. everything sent over all networks/http in plain text.
Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though.
- Notifications for 'last active' / 'seen': Really? In what _world_ would that be a good idea? FB does the same crap, but I don't have any FB app and there's no global 'Yeah, that dude just looked at totally different things, but really: He's active and _should_ have answered you'.
- Not open. I don't trust them a bit. FB messages are XMPP and FB is "You're stupid to share things here anyway" by default. Whatsapp .. has no benefit, all the downsides.
- Free for a year, pay after everyone uses it. Bait and switch.
On top of that:
For me a social network is something entirely different. Whatsapp is a message application. It's Trillian or whatever, nothing of value. You can do the same thing via XMPP or Mail or .. any transport you like. It feels like someone is rebranding something boring, old, uninteresting, adds tiny crappy features (and a UI I cannot stand) on top and .. asks for money.
(No offense intended. I wouldn't want to take that thing from any user, even if I could. I just hate being 'invited', because it's not even remotely interesting for me. And I'm sorry that this 'wins', while open solutions are equal or superior..)
But, I have never really used a Blackberry device before.
Additionally, I wonder if releasing this sooner would've saved them or changed history a little...
I'd install iMessage on my nexus 4 if it was a drop-in replacement for my SMS client and was a solid, Apple-quality app.
Message Protocol Y: supports chat, runs on iOS, Android, Blackberry.
I absolutely love iMessage, but I hate that I can't use it with anyone who owns android.
FWIW, in my social circle and outer circles phone ownership is probably 70% android, 10% windows, 5% apple and 15% dumb phone, so yeah, different strokes for different folks.
Buying an Iphone for $99 because it is subsidized[0] is a 1 percenter solution in global terms.
[0]I use the word even though I doubt it is the right word since it's more like purchased on credit actually because you're going to pay for it over your contract period hence that isn't how subsidy should be used
In seriousness, I think it's very likely that my sister has one specifically because my uncle does; it's very easy for one community to learn to do things one way and another to learn another way.
I’m sure that happens, but I’m surrounded by strong-willed individuals who don’t give a rodent’s behind about what choices I make in mobile platforms. Most people I know use Android. About 30% of the people I know use iOS, but I doubt I had anything to do with their choice for the platform.
I also didn’t say that Blackberry isn’t a fine platform, or that it isn’t used anywhere at all. However, in my group of friends, family and a few hundred acquaintances, I haven’t spotted a Blackberry device in the past year.