[northy014]

As a young person in the UK - - I have recently noticed that all of my friends, and I'm talking well into the 50-60% range, are getting Blackberry's as their new phones. Now, we're in the last year of what you guys would call high school; and people are going for BB's over the iPhone, and they're doing it for one basic reason: Blackberry messenger.

Most people I talk to, regular people as opposed to techies, would prefer a cool looking OS (like the Pre...), but choose against it because they want to be able to chat through BBM.

Now, I think it would be a fairly simple thing for Palm to include in a future webOS update - a proprietary messenger program between webOS devices only, like the Blackberry. I know webOS is all about connectivity and chat programs from AIM to Google Talk, but I think this could be a really good hook to get young people interested in the Pre.

Thoughts? N.B. Blackberry Messenger is the one thing that would give me thought before buying a Pre...

[mobileman]

Difficult. BBM goes through the Blackberry network infrastructure. WebOS does not have or need a network infrastructure.

[northy014]

Well, Palm has been building its Mojo messaging service - somewhat like Apple's push notifications service. Therefore it must have some kind of server farms, at least. Just a thought anyway.

Palm press release: "The Mojo Messaging Service initially will have a limited feature set and service level that will evolve over time."

Perhaps one feature would be a proprietary messenger... Here's hoping.

[jmart603]

the last thing we need is another proprietary messenger. just get all your friends on gtalk. BB has a good app for it

[jhoff80]

BBM is the most ridiculous standard out there as far as I'm concerned. The only reason it's so important is because those young people want to be part of the 'cool kids club' for having it. I'll stick with SMS, AIM, and Gtalk. If you've got unlimited data and texting, there's no reason to need some proprietary program communicating through subchannels of the network infrastructure.

[northy014]

the last thing we need is another proprietary messenger. just get all your friends on gtalk. BB has a good app for it

Does GTalk for the Blackberry run in the background?

BBM is the most ridiculous standard out there as far as I'm concerned. The only reason it's so important is because those young people want to be part of the 'cool kids club' for having it. I'll stick with SMS, AIM, and Gtalk. If you've got unlimited data and texting, there's no reason to need some proprietary program communicating through subchannels of the network infrastructure.

No I completely agree, but it's what people are using, at least people I know, so would be useful for me at least.

[sub150]

I hate BBM because you can't just blow off someone's text. Kinda creepy since it tells you if they have read it. It comes like 5 seconds faster than a regular text...not worth it IMO. If something is that urgent I'll either call or tell them to get on AIM or Gmail

[JONNNathannn]

BBM is the most ridiculous standard out there as far as I'm concerned. The only reason it's so important is because those young people want to be part of the 'cool kids club' for having it. I'll stick with SMS, AIM, and Gtalk. If you've got unlimited data and texting, there's no reason to need some proprietary program communicating through subchannels of the network infrastructure.

It's true. I have it now, it serves no purpose. I can text you or AIM you, I'm using a cellphone. Everyone has about 10 buddies on it, it's so stupid. And then there's the whole "R./" so people know you read their message and you have to respond or they get upset.

As for the question, Pre won't have it, and probably will never. Just text them.

[kilofoxtrot]

It's true. I have it now, it serves no purpose. I can text you or AIM you, I'm using a cellphone. Everyone has about 10 buddies on it, it's so stupid. And then there's the whole "R./" so people know you read their message and you have to respond or they get upset.

As for the question, Pre won't have it, and probably will never. Just text them.

I will miss BBM... it has its values.

AIM is not as commonly used as SMS for one.

BBM works even if the person is overseas (no international charges) including file transfers, voice notes, sent urls. If you dont travel overseas its no big deal... but if you want to send me a MMS when I am in England its gonna cost you, even if you have a sms messaging plan.

[ADGrant]

It's true. I have it now, it serves no purpose. I can text you or AIM you, I'm using a cellphone. Everyone has about 10 buddies on it, it's so stupid. And then there's the whole "R./" so people know you read their message and you have to respond or they get upset.

As for the question, Pre won't have it, and probably will never. Just text them.

The R is what some people like about BBM. The problem with other messaging systems is you don"t know if the person got your message.

The problem with texting is it costs too much. It should be free.

[rambo47]

I love BB Messenger. Remember it was designed for enterprise users with business communications in mind. And for a team update system or for sending project info to coworkers it's superb. Plus it's part of your data plan so there is no charge for messages like with SMS. And it's fast.

A great way to annoy a coworker or BBM contact is to:

1. turn off your BB radio.
2. open BBM and start a conversation with a contact.
3. PING!!! him about 50 times.
4. turn on the radio.

The individual PINGS!!! go flooding into the other guy's BlackBerry and it vibrates and chimes for several minutes straight.

[Carioca_FL]

As a young person in the UK - - I have recently noticed that all of my friends, and I'm talking well into the 50-60% range, are getting Blackberry's as their new phones.

So you're telling us that young people in the UK don't know their percentages properly?

I keed, I keed...

[gabbott]

BBM is nice in concept but only if alot of others you communicate with have blackberries. Other IM clients are more universal or there is always texting.

[jhoff80]

The problem with texting is it costs too much. It should be free.

On the plan that you'll be on with the Pre, it is essentially free.

[quipper8]

xmpp ftw!

seriously, xmpp or jabber is all we really need. gtalk is mostly xmpp, you can run your own server, most mobile os have some type of client. Please no more IM standards.