Since it has been announced I written articles entitled whatsapp vs bbm and First look at BBM for Android. Now that BBM for Android and iOS is official its apparent that I was very wrong. My exact statement was "I can't help but think it may be to late for Blackberry and BBM". Since its release, BBM was downloaded an astounding 10 Millions times in the first 24 hours and is the #1 Free app in the App Store and is in the Top 3 free for Google Play.

 “This has been an incredible launch for BBM across Android and iPhone devices. The mobile messaging market is full of opportunity for BBM. We intend to be the leading private social network for everyone who needs the immediate communication and collaboration of instant messaging combined with the privacy, control and reliability delivered through BBM,” said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President, BBM at BlackBerry. 

This is definitely a great turn around for Blackberry after its financial lost financial lost and possible sale. After all BBM was a pioneer in the messaging industry and based on the buzz it has received, its back!
It may be to early to say if BBM will put WhatsApp down or not but by the looks for it, they'll surely give them a run for their money... or not. (They're free) 

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Last week blackberry announced that it had suffered a lost of nearly $1 billion dollars. Also that they would be cutting about 4500 jobs which speaks for about 35-40% of its staff. That is huge. More recently blackberry announced that it would be receiving a bail out.

Yes Fairfax Financial; a  financial service company in Toronto Canada, is about to acquire Blackberry Ltd for a deal worth $4.7 billion dollars. While the deal isn't final, i'm sure blackberry will be doing whatever is necessary to see the deal through as the company is pretty much finished. What Fairfax plans to do is focus on the the enterprise and security sector of business. 
What this means is that we should not expect a new blackberry device every quarter or anytime in the near future. After the epic failure in sales of the Blackberry 10 devices, black berry will be focusing on continuing to develop secure software and pushing communications via email and IM for enterprises and government. As it stands blackberry 7 devices continue to lead in sales for the company and will be the primary devices moving forward. Fairfax CEO and Chairman Prem Watsa stated 
"We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers and employees. We can deliver immediate value to shareholders, while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company with a focus on delivering superior and secure enterprise solutions to BlackBerry customers around the world," 

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For those who haven't heard as yet, the immensely popular  BBM is coming over to android and iOS in short order, this raised a few questions to me. 1) would people actually switch back over to BBM from Whatsapp? And 2) which messaging system is better?

I've take a small survey among my colleagues who all have had a blackberry but are currently rocking with either android or iphone. The general consensus is "no I wouldn't switch" After BlackBerry started to fade out whatsapp was the only decent app that came close to BBM. It had most of the same functions like voice note, file transferring, emojis and etc. The only issues BBM migrants had was the last seen online status and the using of your actual phone number. Over time users have learned to live with it, I certainly have. They have definitely made up for those small flaws with great updates to the overall user interface and functionality. 

This brings me to the next question; which is better? Their is a difference between being popular and being better. Here is how the features stack up.

Feature                                 Whatsapp                                     BBM
Invitation                               Phone number                                PIN, Email,QRC Code (NFC BB10)
Message Delivery                  Shows sent and received ticks        Shows sending, sent, delivered, read
Calling                                   Voice note only                             Yes, over WiFi
Video Calling                         No                                                Yes
Emoticons                              Yes                                               Yes
Contact Storage                    Sync with phone                             Backs up to cloud
Price                                     Free for a year                               Free

BBM does have a bit more depth to it, but they both have their ups and downs. While BBM is incredibly secure, whatsapp makes up for with smooth flowing interface while being secure enough. It's hard to say which is actually better. These apps have similar capabilities and really depends on your preference.

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BBM is finally crossing platforms in an attempt to save the ever dwindling brand. The video below by BlackberryOS.com shows BBM in beta (testing) phase on a HTC First, ofcourse running android OS. 

I can't help but think it may be to late for Blackberry and BBM. From what I've seen they haven't really added any new outstanding features. In my opinion this move will hurt more than heal. With BBM being now available on other platforms what is there to keep the Blackberry users locked in, other than being die-hard loyal? We'll see when its officially launched. Until then have a look at BBM running on Android.



Feel free to leave your comments, likes and feel free to share.

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