It’s 2013 and Blackberry have released an app for 2008 – and it’s showing
Last week we reported that Blackberry Messenger (BBM) for Android and iOS had 10m downloads in 24 hours. Blackberry have now announced the addition of 20m users in the first week.
Those numbers put BBM leagues behind seasoned competitors like WhatsApp, which has 350m active users.
BBM was very popular on its release in 2008, but with the falling popularity of Blackberry hardware, users are now less willing to put up with annoying design features as the app has been rolled out to Android and iOS devices.
The app has been released in 2013, and competition has pushed up standards in the mobile instant messaging market – we simply aren't willing to go through the rigmarole of having to add friends by a unique PIN or put up with any of the app's other design flaws.
Today Blackberry's executive vice president of BBM, Andrew Bocking, says that they'll focus on "active users of BBM and will no longer focus on simple download numbers".
In order to maintain a user base, Blackberry need to bring their app up to date.