RIM kicks Kik off Blackberries: Revokes keys, disables push

Post by nikster » Wed, Nov 24, 2010, 12:50 AM UTC

faramarz wrote: post #38

[Update: RIM has now responded with the following comment, referring to a breach of "contractual obligations," but is not specifying what those obligations were: "RIM became aware of a number of issues and customer concerns regarding the Kik app and service. Following discussions with Kik, the app was removed from BlackBerry App World on November 12. Upon further investigation, RIM concluded that Kik had breached con…

Post by brisance » Wed, Nov 24, 2010, 12:58 AM UTC

nikster wrote: post #48

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…

^^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 studen…

Post by teejae » Wed, Nov 24, 2010, 1:06 AM UTC

brisance wrote: post #53

nikster wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

^^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 studen…

Which part of "SE Asia"? BB is popular in Indonesia, but that's about it. The "it" phone everywhere else has always been iPhone and shipping times have been stuck at 2 weeks as recently as early November. Google Trends bears this out. There is not a single ASEAN country other than Indonesia where BB comes out ahead in normalized searches.

Post by extension » Wed, Nov 24, 2010, 2:10 AM UTC

jeffclark wrote: post #7

alanh wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagree. 1) Kik claims to have already submitted a new version of the app that addressed these concerns. 2) The app was already approved and into the store. How is his responsible behavior? 3) How does further disabling Kik’s ability to distribute new versions of the app (by revoking signing keys) help? 4) How does crippling the UX (by disabling push) of the existing install base help anyone? That isn’t, as you say,…

1) Kik claimed. RIM may not have agreed. 2) Maybe it was flagged after it was originally approved. 3) I agree. I'm not sure how submitting a BB app works - I assumed the key was at app-level, not company-level, but I've never submitted a BB app before. 4) This is probably related to the battery life issue. Don't get me wrong - If they kicked it out for being "too similar to BBM", that's a dick move. But if Kik didn't…

Post by LordLandon » Wed, Nov 24, 2010, 3:38 AM UTC

gustaf wrote: post #54

thought_alarm wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

BBM = Mobile - Mobile Messaging GTalk/MSN etc = Mobile - Desktop Messaging The use cases are completely different.