“These
new enhancements to BBM were highly requested, so we're excited to be
delivering them to users today. These capabilities will allow our users to be
more creative in how they deliver their messages while also being confident
that their content is kept private and seen only by its intended recipient”
President of Global
Enterprise Services at BlackBerry, John Sims, commenting on BBM latest features
of Timed Messages and Message Retraction on Friday October 31st 2014
So
now that it's clear that Snapchat has a
unique concept of self-exploding messages and videos which they're now
capitalizing on with advertising since October 17th 2014 as stated
in my blog
article entitled “Snapchat
does Advertising with Snapchat Discovery – 100 Million Strong Potential for reaching
Teenagers with Snapchat Stories for Advertising”, what are the other Mobile
Social Messaging Platforms doing to counter their rising popularity?
Why
follow the leader of course, Mission Impossible style!
A
mantra the still-recovering Blackberry and their Mobile Social Messaging
Platforms, Blackberry Messenger that's now the best thing on Windows Phone and
the new Blackberry Passport as described in my blog article
entitled “Blackberry
Messenger on Windows Phone OS – Goes well with Blackberry 10.3 OS and Passport”
can actually do and succeed in this competitive consumer smartphone market!
Blackberry
is the latest in a slew of Mobile Social Messaging Platforms to copy Snapchat's Mission Impossible
Self-Destructing IM (Instant Messages) and Videos with a recent upgrade to BBM
(Blackberry Messenger) on Friday October 31st 2014 that gives users
this ability along with some well need security and perks as stated in the
article “BlackBerry
Messenger lets you take back that text”, published October 31, 2014 11:04
AM PDT by Lance Whitney, CNET News.
BBM Timed Messages and
Message Retraction – How to retrieve erroneously sent Nude Selfies
The
new features are basically improvements on the Snapchat experience:
1. Timed
Messages
2. Message
Retraction
With
Timed Messages, IM sent over BBM can now be set to self delete. However, how
BBM does it is nothing short of genius. When you send a Timed Message, it appears
as an empty slot in your BBM Chat screen that's invisible, reducing the
risk that anyone lurking about looking over your shoulder will see than phallic
photo with both pillar and stones and be all up in your BBM Chat Kool-Aid!
You
then slink off to one side and when the coast is clear; you can and press the
message at which point it becomes visible. But here's the catch that I love
them most!
The
sender of that nude selfie can set how long they want to make their secret message
visible as noted in the article “BBM
now offers message retraction and Snapchat-like timed messages”, published
November 3, 2014 By Trevor Mogg, Digitaltrends.
Once received by the intended recipient, it remains visible as long as their
finger is touching the screen or after the preset time has expired.
Disappear
just like that, True Mission Impossible style! The Message Retraction feature
is even cooler!
Messages
sent in error can now be retracted before they're seen, very similar to retracted
messages in Outlook email or even Social Media Apps such as Facebook Messenger
or on Facebook itself. The messages get replaced with the words “Message
Retracted”. However, any attachments sent with the message will still be seen,
so this isn't quite fool-proof as yet. Still, these are BIG improvements to the
BBM Experience overall that are really cribbed from Snapchat.
One
small caveat thought folks; this is only free for three months stating as of
Friday October 31st 2014. After that, this service becomes a part of
BBM's Premium package of Features for which you'll have to pay for. Well, something
this life and career-saving really could be free, if you realistically think about it.
I
just hope it works exactly as advertised, as I have no need to cuddle with my
boss or barge into a meeting to snatch his phone before he reads my sexual
overtures meant for my girlfriend!
BBM’s Central Perks – Improved
HD Picture viewing, BBM Sticker and BBM Music Discovery
BBM
also has some other new perks:
1. Improved
HD Picture viewing, with the option to request a HD version of any picture sent
to you
2. Faster
BBM Sticker selection with fewer steps
3. Improved
Music discovery that allows you to listen to whatever jams your friends are
into
That
last bit on Music Discovery is related to BBM Music, which came back on BBM in
August 2014 when Blackberry renewed the deal with 7Music, the providers of BBM Music
as explained in my blog article
entitled “Blackberry
Passport Specs revealed in Hands-on - Why Microsoft Office and BBM Music will
make the Passport Hip to Be Square”.
So
Disappearing Snapchat-esque Messages
with a sprinkle of message retraction, Music and better Sticker selection with
HD images. BBM is making all the right moves in the right direction!
BBM well-timed Updates –
Red Blackberry Passport a hit in India as BBM squares with Xim
This
upgrade cannot come at any better time than after the launch of their US$500
Blackberry Passport Smartphone in September 2014 as detailed in my blog article
entitled “US$599
Blackberry Passport Launched - How Blackberry Blend Remote Access may trump
Apple Pay Wallet in the US of A”.
It's
apparently doing quite well in India, with demand already exceeding supply as
noted in the article “BlackBerry
Passport Shines In India”, published Nov. 10, 2014 10:14 AM ET by Piyush
Arora, Seeking Alpha.
And
yes, already they have a favorite colour; the Red Blackberry Passport as noted
in the article “Red
ones go faster: a red-colored version of the BlackBerry Passport breaks cover”,
coming later in 2014 published 10 Nov 2014, 08:03 by Peter K, Phone Arena.
This
improvement to the security features of sending self-destructing images on Snapchat in BBM makes Blackberry the second
company to finally understand what makes Snapchat
tick.
The
other company is Microsoft, whose Microsoft Fuse Labs’ Microsoft
Xim App and its Real-Time Anti-Social Self-Destructing Cross-Platform Picture-Sharing
experience finally becoming a true Snapchat
competitor as noted in my blog article
entitled “Microsoft
launches Microsoft Xim, Snapchat's true Competition - How Slingshot backfired
and Microsoft Xim makes Conscious Shared Slideshow Experience Fun”.
Blackberry has a hit with
Timed and Retracted Messages – On Par with Snapchat and Xim
Facebook
is learning the hard way that you can neither buy nor beat Snapchat.
Already
Slingshot, launched with much promise back in June 2018 as a much hyped Snapchat-killer as touted in my blog article
entitled “Facebook's
Creative Labs Division debuts Slingshot – The Paper Man need Friends Nearby +
Firechat + Group Mini-Games = Original Design” has basically backfired.
Facebook
Rooms as described in my blog article
entitled “Facebook
launches Facebook Rooms - The 90’s Return as Facebook faces competition from
Anonymous Mobile Social Networks”, however, will work as with the return of
the 90’s secret chatroom, it’s cool to be anonymous again!
These
new features along with a new Passport smartphone that's sellin' like hot Johnny
Cakes in India will get Blackberry back to profitability again in no time.
Hopefully
this good fortune in the booming Indian Economy will create some buying envy in
Britain and resurrect their sagging profit margin projections in that country
where they are in 3rd place behind
Apple and Samsung as per my analysis in my blog article
entitled “Blackberry
3rd in Britain by End of 2014 – Blackberry loses in Apple, Android fight as
Blackberry Passport to launch in September 2014”.
So
Facebook, back to the drawing board with you and your Slingshot! BBM's new feature
puts them on par with Snapchat and Microsoft
Xim. And yes, this message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.......
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