Earlier in
the year, Research in Motion (RIM) Company Blackberry announced that its
popular messenger application, BBM, is coming to iPhones and Android powered
mobile phones. It seems the wait may soon be over as it could be available by
late September.
The sales
of Blackberry smartphones has dipped over the years with the introduction of
Apple iPhones and Android powered smartphones. Without an iota of doubt, the
Blackberry messenger is the most popular application on the Blackberry
smartphones as it is only available on Blackberry phones.
Sources
from the Canadian company has indicated that the app will be released to Google
Play Store and Apple app store by late
September although no specific date was indicated. Managing director of
Blackberry India, Sunil Lalvani admitted recently that it will be available in
a couple of months.
“The
service is coming to Android this summer. But summer as per North America,
where it remains till September,” he said.
There are
now many messengers around on mobile and Blackberry can expect a fierce
competition when it finally comes to Android and iOS. Whatsapp which boasts of
250 million active users is one of the major players in the messaging market.
Other
applications include LINE which claims it already has 200 million downloads,
China’s WeChat has also topped 300 million downloads while KakaoTalk has about
100 million downloads. Even these chat services are very active in countries
like Indonesia where 18% of Blackberry global users reside.
One
interesting fact that will surprise most Nigerians is that despite Blackberry’s
popularity in Nigeria, only 3% of Blackberry’s global users reside in Nigeria.
The fact is that this move will make the Blackberry messenger more popular in
Nigeria and globally but one thing remains unclear, will it increase Blackberry
smartphone sales.
I doubt if
the release of BBM to other platforms will increase Blackberry smartphones
faltering sales. Most people buy Blackberry because of the chat app which is
unique to Blackberry only. “What is your pin?” (lol) they say proudly. But
there’s only one entity that will tell us if Blackberry’s fortune will change
for good with this move: time.
(Stats:
BGR)
Most people in the Nigeria only go for blackberry because of its messenger BBM. Aside that, the phone has a very irresponsive interface, it is low and some worth consumes a lot of battery power. If they are going to make the messenger available to iOS and Android, I don't think anyone is going to be buying blackberries any more
ReplyDeleteYeah my thoughts too especially in Nigeria. Without bbm, android & iOS beats blackberry in other aspects..
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