According to an exclusive report on BGR, Research In Motion (RIM) is looking to take its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service to the smartphone market at large.
Sources say a stripped-down version of the popular messaging service will be made available across the Android and iOS platforms. The Android version is expected to be released later this year.
RIM would be looking to secure dominance in the messaging app market. This comes following the growing success of third-party chat services, such as WhatsApp and Kik Messenger, which follow in the BBM mould.
While details are still hard to come by, the deployment strategy is still under development and it is speculated that RIM may charge users on other platforms a once-off or recurring fee for the use of BBM.
It is also said that certain BBM functionalities may be disabled, such as file-sharing and voice notes, meaning users would still need to own a BlackBerry for the full BBM experience. As such, it has been questioned whether a watered down version of BBM would offer sufficient competition to the other services.
Commentators are wary of the implications that this move could have for RIM, and some have already called it a major mistake.
BBM is widely regarded as the unique selling point of BlackBerry smartphones, in the face of the smartphone boom that has seen RIM lose out to Apple and Android devices.
In SA particularly, RIM has enjoyed a sizable share of the smartphone market, arguably due to the mass appeal of BBM to the younger generation. If that selling point is no longer as unique, it could damage RIM's future growth.
RIM has declined to comment at this stage.
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