Look outside – is it raining cats and dogs? Are pigs flying? If so, then this latest rumor, which suggest Research in Motion is considering bringing Blackberry Messenger to other mobile platforms, may be true.
This is a highly significant move if it is in fact true. Blackberry Messenger launched as a way for people – particularly business people – to communicate with one another in an exclusive chat system. It’s sort of like a secret club that only Blackberry users are invited to.
However, according to Boy Genius Report, which has leaked numerous big stories that ended up coming true – as well as many that haven’t – RIM is so desperate right now that it is willing to at least consider the idea of opening up the chat platform to other mobile operating systems.
Blackberry Messenger works sort of as a hybrid between traditional texting and instant messaging. It is presented in the form of a chat room-like aesthetic, but messages are sent through texting protocols.
However, Android’s own texting app as well as the texting interface on the iPhone pretty much offer the same thing. BB Messenger was revolutionary when it was first introduced, though, because prior to that, all texts were presented to a mobile user as independent messages. There was no such thing as a “conversation view” in which users could easily see their entire text history with individual recipients.
That’s just one of the ways Blackberry is becoming less and less relevant. Over the last 12 months it has lost double-digit market share in the smartphone market. This move could be the first in RIM coming to the realization that its days exclusively as a hardware company may be numbered.
