A few years ago the key reason to get a BlackBerry smartphone was because of push email, strong security, enterprise support, and the excellent BlackBerry Messenger service. Fast forward to today and honestly most smartphone platforms offer the majority of those features: with the exception of BlackBerry Messenger.
Sure, you can use Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, or any number of other IM clients on mobile devices. But BBM users have a special fondness for BlackBerry’s messenger service. Now it looks like Research in Motion may be opening the doors to users of other platforms. Boy Genius Report says that BlackBerry Messenger will be available for Android and iOS users soon.
That’s a smart move, because it means BlackBerry users will now have an easy way to chat with their friends using other phone platforms. Or maybe it’s a dumb move because it means if you were hanging onto your BlackBerry phone because of your loyalty to the BBM service, there will be little left to stop you from buying an iPhone.
That said, Boy Genius Report suggests that the Android and iOS clients might be stripped down versions of what you’d get with a Blackberry. For instance, you might be able to chat with contacts, but not to share photos or locations over BBM.
