Over at BlackBerry, they are doing it again – jumping on the corporate bandwagon and singing their praises as they proudly announce that in the first 24 hours, there has been over 10 million downloads of their once infamous, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for the Android and iOS platforms. Their title of the announcement:
BBM – the First 24 Hours are an Amazing Success
Success cannot be measured by the number of downloads, but in the number of actual day-to-day users – apparently BlackBerry has never heard of the word “curiosity,” and we all know what curiosity did to the old cat! Now, don’t get me wrong, I am an old BlackBerry fan from several years ago, and nobody wants them to succeed more than myself…it means more competition in an industry that is slowly being dominated by three or four manufacturers, and this competition helps keep them all innovating and trying to outdo each other. But BlackBerry always had this attitude that if we build it, they will come; and this is just not so as they have very quickly discovered; and as a last ditch effort to move more into the software end of the business, they have brought out BBM for the other two dominating operating systems. There are still a few pieces of the BBM puzzle not yet available for Android and iOS, but BlackBerry’s Andrew Blocking stated:
While we’re excited to bring BBM to iPhone and Android – we aren’t stopping there. Work isn’t slowing down at all. We committed to delivering a BBM experience on iPhone and Android that was equal to that on BlackBerry 10. That means bringing BBM Video, BBM Voice and BBM Channels to Android and iPhone customers too. My team is still committed to bringing those features to BBM on Android and iPhone in the near future. And we’re not stopping there – we have some great new features planned that will build on BBM as the private social network you count on for immediate conversations you can control and trust.
To BlackBerry’s credit, the download rate is amazing, quickly topping the 5 million mark, even with potential users waiting for their “invitation” in the form of an email. There were even some work arounds discovered to “jump ahead” in the virtual line so you could receive your BBM download early. Next came the slew of accusations of the many fake reviews in the Google Play Store, and finally the complaints that BBM had to be turned on all of the time on our Android devices – oh, you could go in and turn it off, but then you would not be able to send/receive messages until you turned it back on…you can read more about it here.
BBM has definitely been a hot topic the past 24 hours, whether people love it or hate it, complaining about the wait, praising it, or sharing their pins, BBM will be here to stay for a while as it competes against some of the other heavy hitters that are already established. Let us know in the comments or on Google+ if you like the new BBM platform on Android and whether you will stick with it or return to your old favorite.