[stevefarnworth]

Hmm, whilst I welcome the move, I think it's a poor decision by RIM to do it. Seeing as most of my email is handled by Google Apps, the only real draw (and because of friends and family members with BlackBerrys, it was a large draw) for me to get a BlackBerry handset was BBM.

If I can seamlessly instant message friends and family across platforms with the ease of use of BBM on a device like the HTC Desire HD, then that would be my preferred approach.

[gaius]

Not if they charge a fiver or a tenner a month for it. It could be a goldmine. Remember that BB-anything works by a connection back to a RIM datacentre. That's how they did push before anyone else. It's why a BB device refers to itself as a "handheld", it's only a terminal onto BlackBerry backend services, you need the whole package.

[stevefarnworth]

Fair point, and I suppose that IMaaS is going to have a good profit margin, but the sheer numbers of people I know who have bought a BlackBerry handset because of BBM probably wouldn't have had it been available cross-platform.

[unexpected]

What's the average profit margin on a phone? $100-$150? Now imagine you bought a $10/month service - over the life of a contract, that's $240? 30% to apple - that's $168 - that's would be about breakeven - not including R&D costs, etc.

[joaquin_win]

My thoughts exactly. They're signing their death sentence.

[yellowbkpk]

Maybe they realized their death sentence was already handed to them and are trying to shift to other business models. Externalizing what they feel is their core competency (they've had TV ads for BBM (not their phones or OS) for months now) and trying to monetize it may be a step in that direction.

[protomyth]

To be fair to RIM, they really are going to have a problem with selling hardware if they keep in the iPad or iPhone form factor space. They are up against Apple and HP who have the money and supply chain to manufacture units at a lower price. Samsung has its own manufacturing capability and an OS provided by Google. RIM seems to have some serious challenges to overcome.

Maybe they think they will survive as a software play?

[beaumartinez]

I think BlackBerry is doomed[1] anyway, especially with the increasing popularity of Android and iOS[2]. Although it does seem like a last-resort action: BBM is a very strong reason to switch and I know a lot of teenagers and young adults with BlackBerries solely because of it.

[1] http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2010/12/blackberry_u... [2] http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2011/02/smartphone_s...

[r00fus]

This would seemingly be akin to Apple releasing iMovie for Windows/Linux... unless they happen to sell content/services with it or use it as a base for their devices (ie, iTunes), I don't see how this move will do anything but dilute their platform.