BBMe: There is a beginning in every end!

Originally written in German by Paulelmar and translated to English by "DeepL," re-posted with permission.

Hello Community! 

The BBM is dead, long live the BBMe. Almost three weeks have passed since the BBM was switched off. At that time it was definitely not yet clear where the BBM's old users are heading and what alternatives are available. Our team also used the whole of May to test the various messenger alternatives. Of course, we would have liked to have had a clone of the BBM, with individual and group chat functions, a working feed and best of all a channel function. Just a BBM.  

But we hadn't found it. We had tried Threema, Signal, Telegram and also the BBMe, whereby the latter also met with massive resistance in the team, because a) only available for money and b) equipped with supposedly fewer functions than the other messengers. In addition, the BBMe c) had to struggle with the fact that it came from BlackBerry Ltd. We had already voted internally and opted for Threema, when Discord was unexpectedly proposed as another service, which is now our internal team platform. 

Personally, I expected to continue using the BBMe, but it would be more of a side-effect with a handful or two of contacts on my smartphone and PC. But then something surprising happened: There were group invitations trickling in, which aimed at a "revival" or the "support" of the messenger. Then you noticed that some of them didn't want to say goodbye to their old BBM(e) without any noise. I also had the impression that on a worldwide scale quite a few users wanted to close the ranks and hide in the common trenches. Anyway, the number of members in the groups is developing positively, meanwhile there is also a BlackBerryBase BBMe group.  

The start of the BBMe within the worldwide BlackBerry community was/is not without difficulties. On CrackBerry, for example, there are two popular and communicative protagonists who have left no stone unturned in the last three weeks to make the BBMe bad. With arguments based on guesswork and conjecture and above all with two aims: 

- The BBMe is not as secure as other messengers and offers fewer features. - It is not financially worthwhile for BlackBerry Ltd. to support it because the BBMe will never reach significant user numbers. 

The above-mentioned support group, which is made up of around 40 members from all over the world (Base is of course also represented there), has taken up these two lines of argumentation, on the one hand in terms of content and on the other in terms of communication. And he was very diligent. The content work concerns the search for weak points and possibilities for improvement. The huge advantage is that there is also an employee from BlackBerry Ltd. in the group who is actually responsible for the support of the BBMe and listens very carefully. Therefore, the suggestions developed have also been incorporated into the two updates of the app that have already been carried out in the meantime.  

Yesterday, for example, the last update arrived, which has the following changes on board:  - You can mark messages as favorites in order to refer to them later or edit them. - More message types can now be forwarded as attachments in a post - Videos can now be recorded and sent directly in a chat 

- Most importantly, the encryption keys used can now be verified manually to additionally secure the chats. 

This makes the security problem with encryption, which allegedly still exists, even more untrustworthy. 

At the same time, the group also reviewed the argument that BBMe offered less than the free Messenger versions and created a folder comparing the different Messengers. And, lo and behold, this argument doesn't really stand out either. The folder was finished yesterday, you can download it here. It is (still) in English, but will be translated soon. The creation of this information would actually have been the task of the marketing department of BlackBerry Ltd., but you know: BlackBerry and marketing, that doesn't fit! 

And that brings us to the communicative part of the Supporter Group's work. We also try to present the BBMe with its features and advantages in the various forums and to defend it against the obvious writing of a broken letter. There are arguments, such as ... - the one-year limited offer to use the BBMe free of charge would be a fig leaf from BlackBerry Ltd. to keep customers in business after the abrupt end of the BBM.  - the argument that with the BBMe would BlackBerry itself  

And that brings us to the communicative part of the Supporter Group's work. We also try to present the BBMe with its features and advantages in the various forums and to defend it against the obvious writing of broken documents. There are arguments, such as ... - the one-year limited offer to use the BBMe for free would be a fig leaf from BlackBerry Ltd. to keep customers in business after the abrupt end of the BBM.  - the argument that the BBMe would cause BlackBerry itself financial losses with the subscription fee of €5.60, since the companies would have to pay €50 and more for the right BBMe and thus each subscriber would damage the shareholders by at least €45. - and generally, nobody would be interested in such a bad product anyway. 

We are all convinced that dear Chen, who by the way confirmed his support in his blog post, is a pure figures person and does not let himself be guided by such altruistic motives of customer loyalty, if he did not have a plan. Above all, he wouldn't invest a single cent in updates and support (yes, there is!) to keep a few consumers in the game.  

And the argument that the BBMe wouldn't lure anyone out behind the stove has also been refuted. The download numbers in the Play Store show this. Although the numbers are still marginal compared to WhatsApp and Co. (in the three weeks between 600,000 and 1,000,000 downloads), the BBMe should not and cannot become a mass app. It's different, it's safe, it's good.  

So please take a look at the BBMe and put it through its paces yourself. If you have only few direct contacts, join the various groups. Form your own opinion as to whether the equivalent of two cappuccinos for the BBMe is not a sensible investment.  

It's worth it! Promised! 

If you want to download the app, you can do it here! 

Greetings Paulelmar