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RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

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Re: RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

#41

Post by dedward »

axiom wrote: post #37
bebeastie wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends how you define 'stupid'. I see advertisements day in and day out for BBM. Not for RIM's latest phone, not for a new RIM app, but specifically for BBM. Why? Because RIM has realized that one of the only things keeping a large % of their user base around is BBM. Their OS is horrible, their devices are nothing special, but BBM is arguably the best mobile messaging product out there (so good that Kik pretty mu…

Fair enough, and that's quite likely what RIM is thinking. But do you think it's a smart strategy for RIM to try to stay relevant by blocking hot apps on their platform? would it not be a more sane strategy for them to make their devices better, and to open up their platform so that others can easily develop more great apps on it? This just seems like such a dumb short-sighted move.

It's only dumb and short-sighted until you look at the amount of money at stake.

BBM truly is the only app holding a great many people back from ditching their blackberries for android or i-devices. The second we find a reliable way to transition away from the blackberry, today, we would. The blackberry has to keep a lock on it's last and only killer app while it finds a way to stay relevant.

Re: RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

#42

Post by dedward »

As soon as we have a reliable app that competes with BBM for ease of use and reliablity and is cross platform, everyone I know who can afford it will immediately dump their blackberries and switch to Android or iPhones. Staying in touch with their friends who can't afford such changes right now and are "stuck" on the blackberry right now is the only thing keeping a whole lot of people from dumping them.

Re: RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

#43

Post by Rantenki »

karanbhangui wrote: post #35
Pahalial wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As have been a disproportionate number of Canadian software engineers, one should add.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

Waterloo is a hub of software engineering education in one of the most populous areas of Canada. A LOT of Canadian computer geeks went to school there. By extension, lots of them have interned at RIM, as it is so close: http://www.rim.com/company/maps/index.shtml

Re: RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

#44

Post by [deleted] »

potatolicious wrote: post #40
karanbhangui wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

RIM employs a pretty absurd number of software engineering interns. If you've done software internships in Canada, odds are you've worked for RIM at some point. I've also heard horror stories stemming from this - some teams have such a high reliance on interns (cheap labour, hurrah!) that code quality is truly abysmal.

[deleted]

Re: RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

#45

Post by karanbhangui »

Rantenki wrote: post #43
karanbhangui wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

Waterloo is a hub of software engineering education in one of the most populous areas of Canada. A LOT of Canadian computer geeks went to school there. By extension, lots of them have interned at RIM, as it is so close: http://www.rim.com/company/maps/index.shtml

Okay I see what you mean. Also, I went to Waterloo for ECE.

Re: RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

#46

Post by orangecat »

mikeryan wrote: post #20
alanh wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sue them for what? Are trade secrets involved? Are the bitmaps directly lifted from RIM property? Because there is no copyright protection for the general idea of an interface! Edit: Patent ≠ copyright, but nonetheless a patent suit would be interesting, damned weak, and unlikely to be resolved for years (IANAL)

Because there is no copyright protection for the general idea of an interface! This isn't actually true, you can patent interfaces. Notoriously, a TV channel guide which has a grid interface with channels and times represented as columns and rows is patented (originally by TVGuide, now owned by Rovi). Every Guide you see on a cable or satellite box in the US pays a licensing fee to Rovi. http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/…

Wow, and filed in 1998? How is every spreadsheet in the world not prior art?

Re: RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

#47

Post by thought_alarm »

bebeastie wrote: post #33
axiom wrote: post #8

This is just painfully stupid. Finally an app on Blackberry actually garners some attention, and RIM kicks it off the market. For anyone who has ever bitched about Apple being draconian, this is just another example of what the mobile app world was like before the App Store. It really wasn't all unicorns and rainbows and happy developers skipping through the meadow. It was locked down and cost absurd amounts of money…

It depends how you define 'stupid'. I see advertisements day in and day out for BBM. Not for RIM's latest phone, not for a new RIM app, but specifically for BBM. Why? Because RIM has realized that one of the only things keeping a large % of their user base around is BBM. Their OS is horrible, their devices are nothing special, but BBM is arguably the best mobile messaging product out there (so good that Kik pretty mu…

The lock-in argument doesn't hold much water.

RIM already provides IM clients for Google Talk, Yahoo, and MSN, with pretty much the exact same UI and features as BBM. The quality of their Google Talk client is one of the things keeping me on BlackBerry.

Re: RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

#48

Post by nikster »

bebeastie wrote: post #33
axiom wrote: post #8

This is just painfully stupid. Finally an app on Blackberry actually garners some attention, and RIM kicks it off the market. For anyone who has ever bitched about Apple being draconian, this is just another example of what the mobile app world was like before the App Store. It really wasn't all unicorns and rainbows and happy developers skipping through the meadow. It was locked down and cost absurd amounts of money…

It depends how you define 'stupid'. I see advertisements day in and day out for BBM. Not for RIM's latest phone, not for a new RIM app, but specifically for BBM. Why? Because RIM has realized that one of the only things keeping a large % of their user base around is BBM. Their OS is horrible, their devices are nothing special, but BBM is arguably the best mobile messaging product out there (so good that Kik pretty mu…

^^Agree. Kik is a BBM clone. Surprisingly badly done, actually, from what I can tell - but still, it's aiming straight for BBM.

If it gains traction, it might turn into a BBM competitor which is available on all platforms, thereby removing _the_ primary reason BBs sell like hotcakes here in Asia.

I guess I should backtrack - BB in SE Asia (and probably other regions world wide) is THE must have phone for every student, college or high school. You either have one, or you want one.

The reason for this is BBM. Clever marketing and the fact that most students already have BB make it a social must have. You either have a BB or you're out. They're selling them by the bucketloads, it's quite incredible.

Without BBM, there is no way BB would sell _any_ phones over here. So clearly they must protect it. If students somehow would get turned on to Kik, and you didn't need the - let's admit it rather ugly-looking - BB to use it, Blackberry sales in the region would die overnight.

Anyone else find it deliciously ironic that BB is now blatantly doing what Apple is usually accused of doing?

Re: RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

#49

Post by nikster »

thought_alarm wrote: post #47
bebeastie wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends how you define 'stupid'. I see advertisements day in and day out for BBM. Not for RIM's latest phone, not for a new RIM app, but specifically for BBM. Why? Because RIM has realized that one of the only things keeping a large % of their user base around is BBM. Their OS is horrible, their devices are nothing special, but BBM is arguably the best mobile messaging product out there (so good that Kik pretty mu…

The lock-in argument doesn't hold much water. RIM already provides IM clients for Google Talk, Yahoo, and MSN, with pretty much the exact same UI and features as BBM. The quality of their Google Talk client is one of the things keeping me on BlackBerry.

None of these are especially created for mobile. Or aimed squarely at BBM with the same features.

I had been thinking about creating BBM for other platforms simply because I'd like to have it on my iPhone.

Re: RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

#50

Post by nikster »

dedward wrote: post #41
axiom wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough, and that's quite likely what RIM is thinking. But do you think it's a smart strategy for RIM to try to stay relevant by blocking hot apps on their platform? would it not be a more sane strategy for them to make their devices better, and to open up their platform so that others can easily develop more great apps on it? This just seems like such a dumb short-sighted move.

It's only dumb and short-sighted until you look at the amount of money at stake. BBM truly is the only app holding a great many people back from ditching their blackberries for android or i-devices. The second we find a reliable way to transition away from the blackberry, today, we would. The blackberry has to keep a lock on it's last and only killer app while it finds a way to stay relevant.

^^^ Yes.
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