Research in Motion pulling Kik Messenger from BlackBerry App World appears to have been a much bigger deal than we had initially thought. Not two weeks ago, RIM pulled Kik Messenger from BlackBerry App World vaguely stating that they became aware of a number of issues and customer concerns regarding the Kik app and service. RIM, this past Friday, however, disabled all “Push” access to existing Kik users and has removed Kik access to the BlackBerry Software Development Kit and Signing Keys, essentially disabling all future Kik Messenger development on the the BlackBerry platform.
RIM released this official statement as to why they seem to have severed their relationship with Kik.
RIM became aware of a number of issues and customer concerns regarding the Kik app and service. Following discussions with Kik, the app was removed from BlackBerry App World on November 12. Upon further investigation, RIM concluded that Kik had breached contractual obligations. Based on the broad scope and seriousness of the issues and concerns, RIM terminated its agreements with Kik and withdrew RIM’s support for Kik’s service.
It doesn’t appear that Kik Messenger is coming back to the BlackBerry any time soon…
[Via BGR]
Can’t blame RIM. BBM is really their only claim to fame in the consumer market.
Well, that’s a wrap for Kik for now. No use having the app on the blackberry after this. Just wonder what is the REAL issue as there are other apps that work cross-platform. Some are saying it has to do with it auto going through your contacts, but I swear it isn’t the first app to do that. I will admit that how they did it was a bit spooky. I was able to get friends simply because I’m in their address book (I, shockingly, don’t keep e-mail addresses in my contacts because I simply replied to messages more than I created new ones). I don’t see why RIM couldn’t just say something to the effect of how they procured users if that was the issue. Seems odd as there was the claim they were working together when the app first launched.
In any case, crushing blow for this app as I’m fairly sure even the Android and iPhone folks still wanted to chat with their BB friends on it. Might have even made it easier for some folks to switch knowing they could use Kik (who knows). So, let’s see how many of those folks also delete the app. Sure we haven’t heard the end.