BBM to go cross platform

[§am]

RIM (Blackberry) have announced that their popular messaging service, BBM, (well popular if you own a BB device) is to go cross platform later this summer to Android & iOS devices, but not to Windows devices.

BBM for iOS and Android to Launch This Summer -

So is this a good thing?
Many devote BB fans have been calling for this for years, many remaining loyal to BB devices just so they can carry on using the BBM service.

However, is it too little too late?

With HUGELY popular services like the WhatsApp service essentially providing BBM type services cross platform for years now, they have a huge catch up game to play.

Of course there is also a flip side to this...
Loyal BBM fans who have wanted to jump ship for years could now have the perfect opportunity to do so!!!

Have RIM/BB shot themselves in the foot?
Is this a last ditch attempt to try and clinch back some of the market share they have lost over the last few years, or as I said earlier, too little too late??
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[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

There have been so many rumors about RIM going out of business. I am surprised it has not happened already since IOS and Android have flooded the market in the last few years. Blackberry can't have that much business now.

 

[§am]

There was another global outage last week (or was it week before) which won't have helped matters, and market share has been declined readily for them over the years...

Once the favourites of corporate messaging integration, they just haven't been able to keep up with a lot of today's technology.

The latest (Z10) BB device and their current OS will decide how well they fair now, but they certainly won't be regaining any share of the market close to what they were a few years ago

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

the place where my daughter works gave her a blackberry for work. I gave her a iPhone for home. She hates the Blackberry. She calls it clunky.

 

[Lee]

If they would work on their speed issues, the onboard memory and stop isolating themselves from the rest of the market (you can only really socialize, add apps and games etc) with contacts on BB. When I got my new phone 18 months ago I stuck with BB purely because most of my friends and family had one. Within 6 months I had 2 out of 20 something left. Everyone else migrated to android or apple. So I shall be doing the same in 3 months. I think RIM tried so hard to set themselves apart that they cut themselves off.