Archive for: bbm
Waiting impatiently for that PlayBook 2.0 update that was supposed to bring far and wide sweeping changes as well as a ton of added functionality? Well, you’re going to be waiting for a while longer. The rumored October release isn’t happening. November’s out. December. Ditto. As it stands now according to BGR, RIM is still having problems with the one device PIN limit that has so far delayed the roll out of multi-device BBM, email, calendars, contacts, and more syncing between BlackBerry devices. The only solution as of writing that RIM’s managed to come up with is using separate BBM accounts complete with their own separate contact lists. Obviously such a solution wouldn’t work (at all) and would do more harm than good.
BGR also claims “other issues” are helping add to PlayBook 2.0 delays but didn’t elaborate.
Hopefully RIM can make something happen. As it stands now they’re dead in the water with a seemingly dead end platform that is beginning to reek of webOS. For now we’ll have to wait until mid-February for the rumored PlayBook 2.0 update to hit the masses — that is of course assuming no other issues crop up and RIM can fix their PIN-limit problem.
Rumors of RIM porting their popular BlackBerry Messenger messaging service to Android and iOS have been circulating around the web for well over a year now. Thus far, however, we haven’t really seen any physical evidence. The rumor was even called into question as RIM has also stated that they aren’t porting BBM for competing platforms. Contradicting statements aside, TechRadar has published new screenshots from an alleged RIM employee that shows a BlackBerry Messenger icon in the Android app drawer. Said employee says the BBM Android (and assuming iOS) app will be ready sometime in 2012.
Besides the two photos there’s not much else to go on. Hopefully RIM has something more official to share with us in the near future. With their marketshare (and relevance) quickly slipping, a cross-platform BBM app would be a good start to re-capturing the minds of the consumer market.
- September 6, 2011 9:17 pm
One of the PlayBook’s glaring holes is the lack of dedicated BlackBerry Messenger support, instead relying on the company’s BlackBerry Bridge software to get mobile messaging done. A dedicated BBM app has been promised for many months now, although nothing has come to fruition just yet. But a slip up on BlackBerry.com could be sign of things to (soon) come.
The screenshot above shows an ad that was live on BlackBerry.com earlier today that has since been removed. The scandalous content pertains to the BBM app displayed on the PlayBook’s screen whose “dedicated” status is made more official thanks to the “uninstall” button located on the same screen. If this were a screenshot of BBM via BlackBerry Bridge there wouldn’t be an “install/uninstall” button.
This could be RIM slipping up and giving us a sneak peak of what’s coming (we already know it is). Also likely is that someone in the marketing department tried their hand at Photoshop. As we’ve seen many times across the tech world, Photoshop failures are frequent.
Stay tuned…
If your head was already spinning from the growing number of streaming radio/music services currently on the market, sit down and take a load off. RIM is getting in the game too with BBM Music…
If you spend any amount of time outside of your rock, you’ll know things are a bit sketchy in London. Riots and looting fueled by police shooting a London man have catapulted RIM into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. According to the most vocal critics so far, RIM’s BBM is to blame for helping the rioters message spread, and therefore, the “cause” of continuing rioting. The only problem — nothing could be farther from the truth.
The blame is misguided. If RIM completely shut down their BES/BIS servers to stop BlackBerry services from being used, rioters would simply turn to SMS, email, twitter, Facebook and any one of the other hundreds of communication methods available. Blaming RIM is stupid and shortsighted. Hopefully common sense prevails…
One of RIM’s staple services, BlackBerry Messenger, has a rather substantial update in the making. The image above shows what is claimed to be BBM 6.1′s new interface which includes more customization options and all new icons. To some it may not seem like much. But to BlackBerry fanatics who’ve been looking at the same aging pixels since BBM 5.0 was released last year, it’s more than welcome.
Previous rumors have pegged RIM bringing their popular and reliable (current) BlackBerry-only BlackBerry Messenger client to other platforms, namely Android and iOS. Thus far, no official date or quarter has been mentioned. But forum commenter over at MacForums may have cracked the secret. Apparently the guy’s business class went to a social media conference held by RIM at which co-CEO Jim Balsillie said to expect BBM for iOS on April 26th. Later this summer, an update is supposed to tackle a “new notification system”.
It all sounds great initially, but we remain skeptical; it’s definitely looking like one of those “salt moments”
Update: When contacted by BGR, a RIM spokesperson claimed:
RIM did not hold a conference in Toronto this week, and Jim Balsillie did not speak at any event in Toronto this week.
So there we have it, looks like BBM will not be offered to other platforms (but we can always dream).
The BlackBerry OS may not be looked as favorably upon in the age of Android, iOS, and webOS, but truth be told there are still several good things going for it. For one, the email while simple, is extremely easy to set up, operates reliably, and is customizable on a much larger scale for enterprises. But perhaps the most important aspect of the BlackBerry OS moving forward is BlackBerry Messenger.
This once ignored IM “app” has blossomed more into a platform as features are added. The basic concept of BlackBerry Messenger is so popular in fact that iOS and Android apps such as Kik have sprouted up emulating the same experience across different platforms (and until recently Kik was also a BlackBerry experience too). But it appears RIM is ready to take the cross-platform chatting into their own hands and compete directly with Kik and friends with a new stripped down, cross-platform version of BlackBerry Messenger.
According to BGR’s sources, Android is a for sure thing. iOS is planned, though later on down the road — obvious issues concerning App Store policies, etc. As for timing, there isn’t anything more specific other than “Sometime this year”. Either way, we’re pretty excited as BBM is one of the last great things RIM has going for them with the BB OS.
One other thing that will be worth watching is just how RIM handles other cross-platform chat apps. See: Kik fiasco.
As suspected, RIM announced some upcoming changes in their BlackBerry Messenger platform that will coincide with increased social aspects of future OS updates. Indonesian blog, Kombb, managed to get some claimed preliminary details of BBM 6.0:
- Play games using your BBM username
- Cross-chat with users on BBM even without being their friends.
- BBM status will update dynamically depending on goals and accomplishments from games.
- BBM6 will be supported on all 5.x+ devices.
While RIM’s products aren’t typically geared specifically for consumers (as opposed to the corporate/enterprise market), these upcoming change certainly sound promising. But are they enough? My vote: RIM needs to get QNX on BlackBerry phones ASAP!
