Rumor: RIM Bringing BlackBerry Messenger To Android… Eventually To iOS

by Robb Dunewood on March 3, 2011 · 15 comments

Post image for Rumor: RIM Bringing BlackBerry Messenger To Android… Eventually To iOS

According to BGR sources Research in Motion is bringing BlackBerry Messenger first to Android, and, eventually to iOS.  All the details like when this will happen and how much, or, even if RIM will charge users of BBM on third party platroms is still kind of sketchy.  BBM on Android, however, is definitely a go and we should see it launch sometime this year.

BGR’s sources say that BlackBerry Messenger for Android is being worked on first because it is easier for RIM to develop and integrate this type of solution on an open platform,but, the plan is for the company to create a BlackBerry Messenger for iOS client eventually…

What do you think?  Is this a good move for RIM?

[Read]

Rumor Mill

, , , ,

Related Posts

  • SaveTheDrama

    Isn’t BBM one of the few things keeping people on Blackberry? What is the benefit in this?

    • http://www.rimarkable.com Robb Dunewood

      I am scratching my head on this one a bit as well…

  • Truthful Noble

    this is craziness like i have never seen before. how can you give away your bread and butter? the hardware is not cutting it…the app market is not cutting it…and you decide to give away the one thing thats keeping you alive. this is a betaryal to all BB owners like non before or ever to come…unless they sell themselves to Google

    • gquaglia

      Who says they are going to give it away. The rumor stated they may charge for it.

  • Bluehorseshoe

    Goes to show the idiots at RIM don’t know what the hell they are doing. Email and BBM are their only salvation, and now one is free.

    • gquaglia

      Not really even email anymore. My iphone can run circles around a BB running on BIS.

  • http://www.rimarkable.com Robb Dunewood

    After thinking about this for a while, I can see both sides. We know that RIM has big plans for BBM, taking it well beyond just chat and IM. Taking BlackBerry Messenger cross platform would allow RIM to play a dominant role in mobile IM.

  • Truthful Noble

    Both sides my foot…”we will have multi processors when the time and battery size is right”, no big scren phones, no innovations in software or hardware design. its always the same old copy and paste what the competition has done story with RIM. they have not done anything to set themselves apart from the industry since they introduced BBM. now they want to give it away or charge for it…whats to stop anyone from leaving for an Atrix 4G or an LG Star or some other highend phone if it has BBM?

  • ja2bk

    As I read this blog more and more, and read the comments, its become very obvious that some folks just think in the sphere of what they use/do. If people are leaving your platform anyway, why is it a bad idea to still keep your hooks in them for something rather than let them completely walk away? Other companies are making cross platform apps that do what BBM does and I would venture a guess that a good portion of them are former Blackberry/BBM users. LiveProfile is set to go live on Blackberry any day now (which means they will be on iOS, Android, and BB). So, why shouldn’t RIM want the app used by those who leave their hardware to be BBM instead of WhatsApp or LiveProfile? Its not like they are going to keep anyone who is dying to leave for an iPhone or Android. The only issue I have is they should have done this already and they aren’t even launching it TODAY. There was a golden window somewhere about last Summer.

  • Anil Vaghela

    BBM is using the rim services which is part of the BIS package. Your Network operator charges this service. So how will an android phone be able to have BBM on there when also each phone has an unique PIN ID??

    Will this be a case of having to register for a unique pin id if your on a non-blackberry phone?

    I will like to see how they will redesign the BBM on other platforms!

  • Joe

    Can someone please explain this to me:
    Where does RIM still have an advantage in business/corporate environments?
    A few years ago, in our company, we adopted BB’s due to the BES (when only push email was avbl for everyone else). Today, many of our employees use iPhones, Droids, etc. and have no problems with emails (sync’ing, folders, etc) and Outlook synchronization. It seems that the only advantages remaining for RIM are corporate security and IT control. Is this an accurate observation? One employee after another is dumping his or her BB and upgrading to a smartphone.

  • Joel (drkidd8)

    If this happens, BB is not going to be the same… One of the reasons I changed from an Android to a BB was because of the BBM.

    • http://www.rimarkable.com Robb Dunewood

      The reality of the matter, at least right now, is that far more BlackBerry users are leaving the BlackBerry for Android and the iPhone than the vice versa. Does BBM keep some BlackBerry users on the platform??? Absolutely! BlackBerry share, however, is still tanking.

      The only way that the BlackBerry changes by taking BBM cross platform is that the 35 million BBM users currently on BlackBerry devices will have the opportunity to chat with contacts that don’t use BlackBerry devices.

  • Chris

    Umm… u have to look at the bigger picture here… u must’ve rad the nes that RIM is gonna adopt Android apps on its tablet the BB Playbook…

    So if in future RIM is to allow BBM on android.. i’m sure they will make a deal with google to allow android apps on BB smartphones…

    nd modifiying an android app to run on a different OS is very easy considering the fact that it is Open-Source….. so theer will be no problem in that direction…

    But overall if the above stated happens… then BB would become in general just another Android smartphone….

    P.S: i’m on Android’s side here…. BB Charge way too much for what they offer….

    Nd all in all iOS is definatly gonna loose a large portion of the market … nd i’d love to see that… :) :D

    • http://www.rimarkable.com Robb Dunewood

      RIM doesn’t have to ask for permission from Google to put BBM on Android devices. They simply need to build the application. It would be up to Google to host it in the Market, but, there really is no downside for them doing so especially seeing that RIM could host BBM for Android on Amazon, or, right off of a BlackBerry Messenger for Android website.

      It is a bit of a different story for the iPhone because they are a closed garden. This is why you will probably see BBM for Android well in advance of BBM for iPhone. I think that Android users would download BBM for Android at such a rate, that it would put Apple at a competitive disadvantage not to allow the app in the App Store once a version of BBM does come out for the iPhone.

Previous post:

Next post: