Blackberry was undoubtedly the world’s most used smartphone before the iPhone age. However, ever since the debut RIM’s market share of the of the smart phone market is melting away like ice on a hot sunny day. This effect has been made acutely profound by the fact that almost all of the killer apps that were once associated only with Blackberry are now also available on both iPhone and Android devices.
Back in the days of Blackberry dominance, Blackberry Messenger was the most popular app. It could certainly be termed as a killer app for the Blackberry. RIM kept the app exclusive to Blackberry devices for a long time and there was no comparable app available for any other competing platform. However, now with the release of iMessage by Apple for iOS and Chat ON by Samsung, BBM’s exclusivity has been eaten away just like that of the hardware platform for which it was available.
RIM’s executives are now seriously considering porting BBM to both iOS and Android platforms in a desperate bid to try and salvage the user base of BBM. While giving an interview to CrackBerry, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins stated regarding porting BBM to iPhone and Android that:
We’re constantly exploring our room to maneuver and our room to explore other businesses so I wouldn’t say categorically no to it,” Heins explained. “There is a time where this might make sense, and I have a team looking into this… I’m open for licensing if it makes sense.”
We personally think that this makes perfect strategic sense. RIM has already lost its marketshare to Apple and Google which wont reverse in the foreseeable future. There is no point letting the messaging app dominance erode as well by being stubborn about having BBM exclusive for Blackberry devices alone.
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