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Charlie Osborne
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BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard

By | March 3, 2011, 10:20am PST

Summary: BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion is struggling. Now that the iPad 2 has effectively killed the PlayBook before it was even released, RIM is throwing its wildcard options on the table.

Research in Motion is struggling. Besides its lucrative BlackBerry smartphone section, the company’s is coughing up blood, its hair is falling out and the children are asking it to change the will.

RIM is getting desperate, and this is ever clear with the smartphone giant bringing its popular BlackBerry Messenger software to platforms outside the existing BlackBerry platform, including Apple’s iOS and the Google Android operating system.

Now that the iPad 2 is out, RIM missed their shot to get the BlackBerry PlayBook out of the door, and is now facing consumers with a rival tablet which has all of the features that it was trying to plug the market with.

The PlayBook would have been competitive, but only if it had been released before the iPad 2 and given at least some headstart. Now, it’s pretty much dead in the water.

So how can RIM get more users on the BlackBerry platform? It can’t, only by selling more smartphones. And one of the only ways to get this going is to open up their BlackBerry Messenger application to other platforms.

But don’t expect it to be all singing and dancing as the BlackBerry OS version is, because it won’t be. Logistically, getting everything from the BlackBerry grade encryption to the network security will be impossible.

BlackBerry Messenger is incredibly secure, as data is sent via the mobile network but not to or by the mobile network. Instead the data is handled by BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion directly.

For all intents and purposes, BlackBerry Messenger for devices not running BlackBerry OS will be just like any other instant messenger for iOS and Android, and not be the secure, state intelligence defying technology that propels younger users in oppressive regimes to use it in the first place.

This move is merely to add incentive to those who are running iOS and Android with the stripped-down BlackBerry Messenger experience, to jump whole hog into the BlackBerry world.

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Topics

Research In Motion Ltd., RIM BlackBerry, BlackBerry Messenger, Handhelds, Hardware, Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, a criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, Canterbury, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

Disclosure

Zack Whittaker

I worked briefly with Microsoft UK in 2006 but no longer have any connection with the company. Regardless, I remain impartial and unbiased in my views.

I don't hold any stock or shares, investments or industrial secrets in any company, but have signed confidentiality agreements with a number of UK and U.S. organisations, whose names I am not at liberty to disclose.

I was involved with Kent Union, the University of Kent's student union, undertaking voluntary, non-salaried, elected positions between early 2009 and mid-2010.

No other company, body, government department, non-governmental organisation or third sector organisation employs me or pays me a salary in any capacity whatsoever.

As a freelance journalist, whenever expenses are given and taken by a company that is not CBS Interactive, these will be disclosed in each relevant post to ensure transparency.

I currently work with a UK law enforcement unit, but this is an entirely separate position which bears no connection to other work.

(Updated: 23rd October 2011)

Biography

Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

After studying criminology at university, though still in his early-20's, he has already had a series unconventional work and voluntary positions. He has worked with researchers studying neurological illnesses like Tourette's syndrome (which he suffers from), has given lectures on the nature of disabilities in the public community, and occasionally ends up speaking on television and radio discussing the events of the day.

He first had academic work published at the age of 22, then still an undergraduate, and has been cited by a wide range of publications: from the Huffington Post, Business Insider, AllThingsDigital, The Atlantic Wire and CBS News.

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RE: Cisco launches router, switch for smart grids
drumandyou 9th Mar
OK!Now that the iPad 2 is out, http://france-pharma.com | http://bluepillsau.com | http://edproblemsolver.com RIM missed their shot to get the BlackBerry PlayBook out of the door, and is now facing consumers with a rival tablet which has all of the features that it was trying to plug the market with.The PlayBook would have been competitive
View in thread
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Is all of ZDnet contributors on Apple's bankroll?
MobileAdmin 3rd Mar 2011
I love the bias! RIM will be fine and Playbook will sell perfectly well in the vertical its made for - corporate.

New Company: Here's your Blackberry and a Playbook.

New Hire: But I have a iPad 2 to use Garage Band!?

New Company: That's nice but use that at home now get productive.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
CowLauncher 3rd Mar 2011
@MobileAdmin I work for a very large agency and IT is seeing a ton of pressure to support user owned devices (iPhones and iPads mostly.) IT is beginning to see this as part of their business. You have to change with the times my friend.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
MobileAdmin 3rd Mar 2011
@CowLauncher

We already support BYOT and yes it is part of business. It's not for everyone though (corporatation or employee). Many of our employees who expressed interest do not want to pay for devices or costly plans, many didn't like the security and restriction we apply to devices (corporate owned or not).

Bring your own Tech is appealing way to move costs to users and users are recognizing they are giving up something so some decide the company provided tool (ours in Blackberry) is better then the hassle. There is also no delfacto standard in BYOT program as some companies allow it, some don't some offer to pay some towards it, some don't etc.

You also deal with personal usage that might not allign with current corporate policy so a PL device used on company property gets sticky. Not to mention corporate data mixed onto a personal device. Employees do not like when they leave we erase their device.

All that being said it's now part of what we offer and other companys will explore it to save cost. That doesn't mean Blackberry will suffer as our Blackberry growth is still 3x that of our BYOT program which interestingly includes personal Blackberry that we also support.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
dowlingm 4th Mar 2011
@CowLauncher BBOS/BES will soon support separating Corporate from Personal data on BYO devices. How will iOS? How will Android?
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Actually, if my employer gave me a Blackberry and Playbook combo
kenosha77a Updated - 3rd Mar 2011
@MobileAdmin

I would probably leave my iPad at home. (Although with all my third party apps installed on my iPad, I probably would be more productive with it at work.)

But, if I had to work for a second tier employer, I guess I could live with using their Blackberry devices. (Grin)
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
MobileAdmin 3rd Mar 2011
@kenosha7777

Consider we are Fortune 100. People need to recognize Blackberry is the corporate standard and will remain so as they provide the whole enterprise focused ecosystem like Apple does for consumers. Its really two different segments of a very large market.
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LOL!!! Crackberry is a corporate standard... LOL
i8thecat 3rd Mar 2011
@MobileAdmin

Ever notice that you are all alone MobileAdmin? Everyone else has moved on and left you behind with yesterdays dying technology... LOL... Corporate standard... That is too funny... Do you still drive a horse and buggy to work as well? Is Cat 10 your "corporate standard"??? LOL... What a joke.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
MobileAdmin 3rd Mar 2011
@i8thecat

All Alone? if RIM didn't have such huge corporate usage their marketshare and quarterly sales would reflect that.

If you were actually in IT and supported mobile technologies you would be right in the middle of BYOT like I am and be dealing with personal liable vs. corporate liable that every single company is dealing with. Go to any mobile technology conference and there will likely be a packed room to hear about it, discuss it etc.

Don't be shocked when RIM actually keeps on selling devices through 2011 as they have some solid things in the pipeline.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
saieazby 25th Sep
@kenosha7777 Which things can everybody suppose comes the discrepancy between generic Propecia in addition to Finpecia online?
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Contributr
RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
zwhittaker 3rd Mar 2011
@MobileAdmin Hey - be nice. I was -hoping- that the PlayBook would succeed.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
MobileAdmin 3rd Mar 2011
@zwhittaker

hey .. I was kidding but it's a little much with no less then what 8 Pro Apple articles today on ZDnet? Rim is Toast, Everyone wants an iPad, Dark days ahead.

Focus on some quality research and facts on the market and put down the kool-aid every now and then.
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Put down the hater-aide MobileAdmin...
i8thecat 3rd Mar 2011
@MobileAdmin

Progress is good, Progress is good, Progress is good...

I will leave the old behind... I will leave the old behind... I will leave the old behind...

We believe in you buddy... You can do it... Catch up to modern technology... LOL
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PlayBook is much nicer than the Xoom
Bruizer 3rd Mar 2011
@zwhittaker

I was amazed at how stable the PlayBook is and how unfinished the Xoom/Honeycomb is.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
Hasam1991 3rd Mar 2011
@MobileAdmin
Old school... my company has a byod policy and they support Apple products, they don't tell us what to do or use and we have 200,000+ ee's
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
MobileAdmin 3rd Mar 2011
@Hasam1991

See above. We allow BYOT and have a corporate standard. There is zero business case why an iPhone (or Droid etc) is needed when the Blackberry which still has a very low CBA for us does exactly what we procure it for - corporate email and PIM. Until mobility at the enterprise level extends beyond that for employees the growth and use of Blackberry will continue.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
simon@... 4th Mar 2011
@MobileAdmin - sorry matey, but that's rubbish.....Blackberry has lost it's corporate edge, we've found in the UK that Blackberry is being replaced everywhere, iPhone and iPad are the forerunners, giant organisations are ditching Blackberry in favour of iOS devices.....Police forces, NHS organisations and Governments are binning Blackberry due to the long period that RIM has enjoyed charging an arm and a leg for the BES tariff.....now with cost cutting in the UK Government departments, costs have to come down....RIM is not dropping its costs, so people are moving to cheaper platforms and embracing user owned devices and deploying other solutions to manage these deployments....times have changed, my friend, times have changed......embrace them....
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
MobileAdmin 4th Mar 2011
@simon@...

Isn't that why RIM provided BES Express - low cost it's free. Correct me if I'm wrong but iPhone is more expensive then RIM in the UK. Data plans are the same so where is your cost savings?

Are you saying corporations should not bother securing and managing mobile devices now? What cheaper platforms? Exchange ActiveSync cannot manage a mobile deployment it enforces some basic security and syncs email. Good Technology is 3x the CAL cost, MobileIron double.

The more devices you support - the more fragmentation and support costs you endure but I guess you just throw all these personal liable employees out on their own right?

Love to hear how your costs look after this exercise and how many employees really embrace paying for this on their own. Keep us posted on these cheaper platforms as well as a whole lot of companies would be interested. Hopefully they can do a 1/4 of what BES provides enterprise.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
djjazzyjeff79 3rd Mar 2011
Blackberry phones are a joke, BB email service in which messages are truncated is a joke, BB messenger is a joke, and BB Playbook will be the biggest laugh of all
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
djjazzyjeff79 3rd Mar 2011
@djjazzyjeff79
That being said, BB's were cool in the 90's along with fanny packs and Vanilla Ice
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
That IT man over there can tell you 4th Mar 2011
@djjazzyjeff79
"fanny packs" were never cool, even in the 90's! Plus I don't think most corp execs are too "cool" conscious, if it gives them what they need to operate efficiently, they're happy & BB does that.
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RE: Cisco launches router, switch for smart grids
drumandyou 9th Mar
OK!Now that the iPad 2 is out, http://france-pharma.com | http://bluepillsau.com | http://edproblemsolver.com RIM missed their shot to get the BlackBerry PlayBook out of the door, and is now facing consumers with a rival tablet which has all of the features that it was trying to plug the market with.The PlayBook would have been competitive
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Ummm, no.
TripleII-21189418044173169409978279405827 3rd Mar 2011
@djjazzyjeff79
Blackberry phones are old. They need a compelling new lineup. Joke, no, in desperate need of upgrades, absolutely.

BB email service is superior to every single email service out there. Real time delivery, no push/pull/wait. I have never had a problem with truncated, can you explain.

BB messenger is, my opinion, the best, but ymmv. Joke, not in the slightest.

Playbook, I hope they don't shoot themselves in the foot and make it available to consumers WITHOUT mandatory BB phone and price it very aggressively. I also truly hope it isn't tied to carriers, since I utterly refuse to buy any tablet tied to a carrier that gets to...ummmm....engage in intercourse with their customers as a condition of sale.

TripleII
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
samalie 3rd Mar 2011
@TripleII Commenting specifically on "BB email service is superior to every single email service out there. Real time delivery, no push/pull/wait."

I'm sorry, but I call bulls***. I'm the lone iOS in an office of BlackBerry. It is not often, but there have been many cases in my time here where something went to crap on RIM's end, and they lost all email service. I, in the meantime, chugged along with ActiveSync on my iOS device without the slightest idea that Management was losing their s*** over the fact they could not receive or send emails on their mobiles.

BB users get email about 1/2 a second faster than me, assuming of course there isn't some sort of congestion or outage at RIM. And yes, you get BBM which is a KILLER app, but not enough to move me off iOS. But at its core...its just another Instant Messenger. Whoooopie.
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@samalie
TripleII-21189418044173169409978279405827 3rd Mar 2011
@TripleII
Maybe we are talking about two different emails. There is your corporate email such as widgetmaker@company.com and then there is yourname@blackberry.net. I can't tell you how many times in a live lab/deployment environment that the yourname@blackberry.net email has been critical. It is instant, anyone sends to it, the time from send to received is instant. The normal polling type email for non blackberry email is the same across all devices.

As for a typical IM client, no, You have secure conversations, can create subgroups of current groups, it integrates into calendar software. There are zero, NIL, instant messenger services that our IT allows because they are insecure.

Now, I agree their hardware is old, and I keep wishing the torch was available other than AT&T, but I keep hoping. With iPhone's insane control levels, Android's SMS problems (still unresolved) I keep using my BB even though I am completely free to upgrade.

TripleII
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Not so doom & gloom for BB...learning to play with others...
jlt0x 4th Mar 2011
@djjazzyjeff79:

The issue may be that you didn't know how to use your BB. You could chose options for the device to show messages truncated initially (w/a 'More' option) or to just show entire messages everytime. That's a non-issue.

I do agree with you on BB Messenger. I didn't a good user experience with it. Took a lot of work to add people and tougher when others were on other IM applications.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
Droid101 3rd Mar 2011
Playbook will be fine. There are tons of Blackberry users in Enterprises that will not allow Androids/iOS phones. They need tablet options, too.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
Hasam1991 3rd Mar 2011
@Droid101
Every Blackberry owner in the offices I've traveled to can't wait to get their hands on iphone...
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
MobileAdmin 3rd Mar 2011
@Hasam1991

And in ours that we allow choice (C level and up Executives) many have gone back to Blackberry as the voice quality on iPhone is poor, the notification system is pathetic, they miss true push email, contact management is better etc.

There is no perfect mobile device so one needs to decide what they value and expect from the device. I have not seen one study that shows iPhone makes an employee more productive and efficient ... increased waste of time with Apps .. no doubt.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
hoaxoner 3rd Mar 2011
MobileAdmin is right. The partnerships that BlackBerry has will keep it just fine. The playbook will have a decent market share. That and the Cisco Cius will get a lot of Enterprise play.
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The problem I see for RIM
oncall 3rd Mar 2011
@hoaxoner

Is that while they can ride a good long time on their enterprise partnerships they really are not making headway on the consumer front. Long term, that's not a great place to be. I work with a group of 23 doctors. 5 years ago about a third of them had BBs and most of the rest were on standard cell phones. Now, half of them have iPhones, a few have Androids and one has a BB that he's been holding onto for years because he doesn't want to lose his apps but he figures his next phone will be an Android.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
Makdaddy 3rd Mar 2011
How is a criminology student's opinion all that relevent here?

As for pairing the BB to the Playbook - i view it as a way to avoid another data plan and being screwed by the SP's.
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Contributr
RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
zwhittaker 3rd Mar 2011
@Makdaddy Erm, ouch?
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
sdghjt 3rd Mar 2011
http://in2s.us/1z8
http://in2s.us/1z8
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
sdghjt 3rd Mar 2011
http://in2s.us/1z8
http://in2s.us/1z8
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
dnevans 3rd Mar 2011
@zwhittaker your opening paragraph is ridiculous. "Research in Motion is struggling. Besides its lucrative BlackBerry smartphone section, the company?s is coughing up blood....".

Sorry, what are they struggling with if their smartphone section is lucrative? They don't do anything else! Have you even read RIM's third quarter results for 2010? There revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2011 was $5.49 billion, up 19% from $4.62 billion in the previous quarter. Gee, sounds like they are really struggling (sarcasm).

I expect you'll write another idiotic article on the downfall of RIM once you have some sales figures on the PlayBook.

@MobileAdmin I agree with your comments. I work for a government agency & support a large number of BlackBerry's. I believe BYO devices won't be widely accepted by security conscious organisations until adequate security measures can be put in place. This is where RIM have dominated the corporate market. BYO devices will become more acceptable when manufactures can segregate corporate data from personal data. This will allow corporate data to be more secure & allowing only the corporate data to be wiped when an employee leaves the company.

"BB email service in which messages are truncated is a joke". @djjazzyjeff79, do you even know why the data is truncated?
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
audidiablo 4th Mar 2011
@dnevans

I work for a goverment contracted company and we use BB, iOS and Android... I don't understand why we use Google Spyware crap here but I'm actually considering ditching my BB Curve POS less than a year life expectancy for an iPhone 4 as I dislike Google. My personal phone is a BB Storm 2 9550 which is also utter trash, crashes, locks, glitches and more all day. I think I will go with WP7 when it comes out on Verizon. That would be 2 less plans for RIM from me and I've been seeing this trend a lot lately as BB software just isn't up to par with the competition. I will admit though all the data encryption and running through their trusted networks I will miss which is the only benefit I see coming from RIM.

My friend just ditched his Curve for a Motorola Atrix... When he had his new phone he smashed the Curve because of how much he hated it.

I feel unless they re-write their OS from scratch and make it fast and fluid then they are going to continue in a downward spiral. They also managed to piss me off with teasing Storm 2 customers with OS6 then flaked on it since it is a resource hog and apparently will not run on the Storm 2. I know there are a lot of others pissed about this as well and solely based on that they are never buying RIM again. RIM needs to pull their heads out of their you know what and get to work if they want to stay in business!
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
dnevans 4th Mar 2011
@audidiablo I agree the Storm was rubbish, but I am quite impressed with the Torch. I believe it is RIM's best BlackBerry yet. I think you'll find RIM will start using QNX on their smartphones in the near future to give them a more powerful operating system.
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android/ios bbm update
klee777 4th Mar 2011
the daily tech contacted an rim insider to confirm these claims, check out their report below

http://www.thedailytech.co/?p=317
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Contributr
Wow.
zwhittaker 22nd Mar 2011
@klee777 About as credible as a dead squirrel.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
kthill1 4th Mar 2011
I support a BES, we do not allow users personal devices for very obvious reasons. Its a business device, it contains sensitive business data. If a user gets canned or investigated, the business is on that device which can be retrieved or killed. Personal devices present unique security hurdles for a business. The BB wasn't designed for your entertainment life.
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
Gis Bun 4th Mar 2011
Errr. The iPad 2 hasn't been released. Neither has the Playbook. How can you say the Playbook is dead and the iPad 2 won? [Almost like assuming the UK will win the most golds in the next Olympics because host countries generally do better than usual.]

Rim may have a problem with it's Playbook [unsure I'd trust buying a tablet from a company that never released one before] but their smartphones are still doing well. If you are basing the doom/gloom part just on the fact that the iPad 2 is about to come outr, maybe you are at bit biased in who you like. A fanboi perhaps?
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
dhays 7th Mar 2011
One has to remember this is an opinion, based on his perception of things. So goes for all postings to this message. I am not in IT, don't have a BlackBerry, so have no basis to comment technically. Around here there is usage of both Blackberries and personal phones. The biggest thing is, if you use your own phone, you can turn it off and not be on call 24/7/365, where as if you use a gov't issued phone you are on call. (managers/other necessary employees)
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RE: BlackBerry facing dark days; pulls out Messenger on Android, iOS wildcard
thekman58 16th Mar 2011
Anyone with a Blackberry device automatically gets 3G with a Wi-Fi only PlayBook. That automatically brings security and everything else that comes with a BES environment. What gets me is I have never read a review of a RIM product where the author was in a BES ecosystem. We only get consumer type reviews for an enterprise product. Based on current specs if priced right how can the Playbook be dead in the water?

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