This week is was revealed that Blackberry have agreed a deal with Apple and Android that it's famous Blackberry Messenger (BBM) will be accessable on all 3 top smartphone brands.
The news came out a few days ago, suggesting that Blackberry had sold all rights for BBM to Apple and Android, however, I can now confirm that they haven't. However BBM will soon be available on iPhone and Android. It is said that BBM on Blackberry's will have a few more unique features; only blackberry's will be allowed to send Photos & Videos over Blackberry Messenger.
As an iPhone user, I have looked into much depth about this discussion as when I heard about this a few days ago I couldn't believe it! With my contract running out soon, I was debating whether to switch over to Blackberry because of Blackberry Messenger. Hearing this news has made me decide to stick with my iPhone until the end of the contract, and I suggest you all do this.
Furthermore, recent news just got out that there will be a new iPhone 5, released in June 2011. Great news! (there will be a post in a few days on this).
Now, back to BBM. At this moment in time, Blackberry, Apple and Android are debating whether BBM should be available on a "one-off purchase" or whether they should have a monthly fee for it. With my experience of the App Store on iPhone/iPod, I strongly believe that they should sell it for a one off fee, however the amount you use it should be determined by the amount of "accessable internet" you have on your contract/pay-as-you-go. I have noticed a problem with pay-as-you-go for this, so I believe it could be a fairly high price - about £4.99 (at a max.) or £0.59 (at a min.). However, if Apple decide that they want to have a continuous charge depending on your internet tariff, I believe it should be a FREE app download from the AppStore. As I don't use Android phones, I don't know how the App store works there, but I believe it is the same as Apple and Blackberry.
Regardless of what happens, no doubt Apple will be able to convert all of the Blackberry Messenger coding into an Application within days. But, as the deal has not been expressed in much detail by the spokesman from Blackberry, one can only assume that BBM will be out as an app at the same date of release as the highly anticipated iPhone 5 which is expected to be out in June 2011 - NOT LONG LEFT!!! For more information on the iPhone 5, check out my post later on this week, with just a small bit of information about why people believe it will be out sooner rather than later.
