Not in a way BB can.

BB group are group chat that people can invite other people to.

imessage group chat is like sending multi text messages to people. The other person have no right to not receive it. And I have yet to find a way to remove a person from the group chat.

imessage don't have statuses like BB do.

smspro on android is like imessage except it's not split in two.

That's probably smart for RIM to focus more on business users, consumer users now are more focused on apps and games as a cell phones selling point, which RIM lacks.

I'm a Berry user and was tempted to switch to an Android device, played around with one for a week but could not leave my Berry as I use my phone a lot for work. Way more productive on Berry responding easier and quicker to emails/messages, encryption, bbm, physical keyboard and I got to say its pretty durable, I've dropped my Torch numerous times and even from 3 stories up. I really don't use a lot of apps or play games on my cell so no real need for me to switch, and in the industries I'm in working with stock brokers, private security/military almost everyone in these fields use Berry so most my contacts are on BBM/PIN.

Theres a time and place for Berrys and the general consumer market isn't one of them.

I think that article is incorrect.

From what I understand, RIM plans to axe their ideas for consumer services such as a music and video store and cloud service and partner with other providers for that.

It doesn't mean they are axing consumer phones all together.

No... I installed an instance of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion just yesterday.

I hope they don't disappear, I'm flying over for an interview lol.

on what device?

they had plans to market BES and make it installable on android/iphones. im not sure if the technology will be pull or push, but its all about security. And no Blackberry is not only BBM. at the moment iphone/android, use SSL for work email ? (anybody know?)

As long as my work keeps giving me free blackberries with free usage, I'll keep using them.

Blackberry worst phone ever. How my jailbroken, dropped 5 times, thrown around iphone 3g is faster than my torch is beyond me.

:fulloffuck:how did you finish school with that kind of grammar????

i disagree. entering the consumer market was the point when their stock rose. the problem is their inability to keep up with apple and android. if they stuck to the business user it's likely they never would have experienced the growth that they did a few years back. they are essentially at the same point they were back when their users were mainly the business industry.

que? my 9900 has mobile hotspot now and i can tether my ipod everywhere i go with no extra charges.

totally agree, entering consumer market forces then to innovate. As business user, i want to have somewhat quality apps to use for non business use.

My 3G is probably the worst piece of crap I've ever owned. The only thing it did well was that it actually survived being dunked in a lake a couple years ago. As a phone, it was terrible. As a smartphone, once Apple started upgrading the OS (and forcing the user to do it before you could do anything else on it), it became slow as fuck.

I went from using that to my old Sony K790 and that sadly felt like an upgrade... :lol

I've never owned a Blackberry (but have used friends BB's before). While I'm personally not a fan of them, nor could I ever get used to their keyboards, I can understand why others love 'em. Would hate to see them go under, especially since they're a Canadian company.

Who said he did

Signed in just to thank this

I'm all for encryption if you're in a government agency or similar. But what use is it when everything is routed through BB servers and they go down? :heckno: yea no thanks

Reliability is much more important IMO

Wouldn't say it's hurting but the previous claim is outrageous, I think Apple is doing that thing they normally do and withhold updates even though they can.
iMessage is weak though, lags and takes a long ass time to send pictures. Not to mention my Android friends use WhatsApp too.

WhatsApp ftw

Reliability is at stake when you have users from consumer market sharing whack loads of useless shit.

Personally, I think this is a good move by RIM

Firing Balsillie was a overdue procedure .

I'm undecided on whether it's a good move.

An argument that can be brought up now is iOS and Android have made such great strides already in the enterprise markets, is it too late for RIM even with the re-focus?

I would love to agree with you. Unfortunately, history dictates that a company is never too big to fail. Case in point, Nortel Networks.

I have both a personal iPhone and a BB for work.. so I'm kinda spoiled in that aspect.

It's no question that BBM > iMessage.
But +1 for Whatsapp.

Business and banking apps are more catered towards iPhones and Androids now. Blackberry still has some, but the touchscreen apps will always be more user-friendly.

A friend of mine who worked at Wireless Wave said it was something like for every 70 Blackberry replacements there's only 1 iPhone replacement.. :ahwow: Not sure if this is true or not, but my experience, I wouldn't be surprised..

I've never had an issue with my old 3G or current iPhone4.

But I've had my old Blackberries (personal and work) die or had to be replaced under warranty around 6 times in the last 4 years. They all seem to have the same problem of the phone always randomly turning off/resetting on its own. The company I work for has about 50 employees in Vancouver, and we get an average of 8 BB's that have to be replaced every year.
My bold just hit it's 1-year mark last month, and a couple weeks later.. it starts turning off on its own again. I'm currently waiting for another replacement.
Having said that, my BB does get a lot more use from using it at work everyday.

Will BlackBerry's still be available to consumers, they'll just be more business oriented models?
I have absolutely no intention of switching to an iPhone or Droid, I've used them and do not like them.

I've absolutely beat on all my last three blackberrys, I should post pics of the case, none of them ever broke.

I hear this a lot too, even my GF's BB lasted her over 2 years, and she drops hers at least once a week.

For some reason I've never had a BB last longer than a year. Maybe cause it gets a lot of use from work..?

My berries never broke too...

My friend drops her blackberry everyday and shes had the 9700 since it was out , it looks like a POS but still works perfectly.