RIM may have lost its dominance in the global smartphone market, but its messaging service, BBM is still widely popular. According to the Wall Street Journal, Research In Motion CEO, Thorsten Heins, has debunked rumors that the company is offering its messaging service to other mobile platforms. A RIM spokesperson reportedly told the Wall Street Journal today that the company is focused and committed to its BBM and is even excited to bring in new capabilities to its user base.
RIM claims that there are more than 55 million BBM users today, up more than tenfold from the 5.3 million users in January 2009. “Teenagers still embrace BBM for its quick and free instant messaging, and its easy to use contact list of friends. Security professionals, police, firefighters and ambulance drivers have come to rely on it as one of the most dependable forms of electronic communications,” the Wall Street Street Journal commented.
Just a couple of months ago, there were rumors that RIM executives were scrambling to figure out a way to capitalize on the popularity BBM. We even reported that ex-CEO Jim Balsillie, who resigned from his post, had the exact idea to open BBM to other platforms. The plan to port BMM to iOS and Android was reportedly dubbed “SMS 2.0”, but judging from CEO Thorsten Heins’ statement, it appears that the company is keeping the service exclusive.
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