BlackBerry has confirmed that it now has 20m new users for its BBM service on android and iOS. It also confirmed it will be adding new features including video calls.
At present it is free but obviously needs to make some money from the service. This will include ads and maybe other in app purchases.
BlackBerry announced that in 24 hours there had been 10m downloads of its iOS and android BBM app. That is a decent number of downloads, a number which has pushed it to the top of the downloads chart.
But is there a future for the app?
This is a difficult question. BBM has competition from many other messaging services like iMessage, ChatOn, WhatsApp and Viber. WhatsApp for example recently announced it had 350m users. Now that 10m downloads does not seem that good. Also WhatsApp makes money from their app charging £1 a year after the first year and for every year thereafter. A modest amount that most people are happy to pay for.
So firstly, BBM has to catch up and overtake established players. Second it has to make money, so at some point it either has to have ads appearing or make a charge for its service.
But is it any different from the other services on offer? Yes, it has one aspect that makes it unique. That is it uses a PIN. This PIN for activation means another person will not know your email or actual telephone number, thereby keeping that part of your data personal. If you accept a PIN invite and then decide you don’t like that person, you can remove them, and that person has not seen any of your other private contact information.
And this is why BBM might survive plus it does have a following. But only time will tell.
BlackBerry BBM is now live on iOS and android.
iOS Appstore link click here.
Play store link. Click here.
The catch is you have to enter your email address and join a queue. No idea how long the queue takes but I will let you know when I get the go ahead.
Update – I had my confirmation email waiting after 6 hours. Accept it seems Blackberrys servers are down due to a temporary server error.
Update 2 – Blackberry announces 5 million downloads of iOS and android app.
40% of its staff to be laid off. Sale rumours rampant.
BlackBerry Messenger for iOS and android gets released. Then demand for android too great for its network so pulls app and service.
Blackberry may end up in different owners hands in a few months. In may survive. It may get asset stripped.
But if hardware is no longer a viable option it’s software could be it’s saviour. Having capacity issues though does not help along with pulling the android app.
What will the future be?
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