RIM CEO, “We Want to Use [BBM] to Build a BlackBerry-Driven Social Networking Platform”

By Briley (Google)

During a shareholder meeting, RIM’s CEO Thorsten Heins, alluded to building a bigger social media experience in BlackBerry Messenger through the BlackBerry 10 OS. More Specifically Heins hinted at adding video chat features that would allow BlackBerry users to communicate face-to-face.

Heins Elaborates on BlackBerry Messenger in The BB10 OS

“BBM is a very, strong platform… With upgrading it into a new experience, think about adding features on BB10 such as video chat, for example, within BBM. There’s many other features to come with BB10 that will really level this BBM experience… which will upgrade that experience to a whole new social networking experience based on BBM… we want to use this to build a BlackBerry-driven social networking platform.”

It would seem by Heins’ statement, that RIM is planning to keep the BlackBerry 10 OS and BBM chock-full of social media features. If BlackBerry 10 is a success, it could provide RIM with that added boost they need to stay afloat longer.

It is certainly not a secret that BBM is one of the biggest factors that compel consumers to choose BlackBerry devices. In fact, BlackBerry Messenger is without a doubt one of the best social messaging apps on any mobile platform. Apple’s iChat doesn’t even come close to BBM in usability and features.

If we didn’t know any better, we’d say that RIM is going to integrate this social media experience in the entire BB10 OS.

It is clear that RIM will never win the app battle, as Apple and Google both have a significant head start in regards to mobile apps. Maybe RIM has finally realized that the social experience of BBM is their main selling point, which also means that if the BlackBerry line stays around it could become a contender in the mobile market again.

BlackBerry App World Hits 3 Billion Downloads

Lots of people claim that BlackBerry App World is inadequate and that there isn’t much in the way of app choice for BlackBerry owners. Well guess what, App World has hit 3 billion total downloads since it was first launched. Furthermore, one billion out of those 3 billion total downloads were accrued in the last six months.

RIM says that the 3 billion downloads also translates to roughly 25 million downloads per day, which is quite a large number. If the BlackBerry App World is seeing 25 million downloads per day, then obviously people are still using Blackberries to download apps on a daily basis.

In addition, RIM also used the announcement to point out that there is a total of 90,000 apps available in the BlackBerry App World.

A Small Glimmer of Hope For RIM

Of course, this is only a small glimmer of hope amongst a large expanse of distressing news. The announcement of RIM’s delay of BlackBerry 10 OS, coupled with the recent news of a first quarter loss of $518 million, has now shadowed the company even more.

When the BlackBerry App store is compared to Apple’s application market and Google Play for Android though, it’s obvious that RIM is behind. Apple’s app store reached 25 billion total app downloads in March, and it only took 27 months for Google to reach the 3 billion mark with the Google Play market.

Regardless of the opponent’s looming numbers, RIM’s milestone just proves that BlackBerry is actually still chugging along.