KIK Messenger… BBM for everyone?
December 2nd, 2010
BlackBerry Messenger, more commonly referred to as BBM, has become an instant hit among the teens and young adults of our generation. The perks of BlackBerry’s instant-messaging application include the instantaneity of delivered messages, making it quicker than texting, unlimited delivered and sent messages at no charge, and the exclusivity to BlackBerry owners. The application’s famous symbols that appear beside a message, a “check mark” for sent, “D” for delivered and “R” for read are patented by RIM, and thus give BBM and BlackBerry an important point of difference and a valuable asset.
According to the article RIM launches KIK instant-messaging patent suit published in the Globe and Mail, Kik Interactive Ltd, a popular application developer, created an app virtuously identical to BBM, and made it available to all smartphone users. This way, along with BlackBerry owners, the Iphone and Android users can also enjoy this application cross-platform. No longer are BBM’s features exclusive.
In Research In Motion gives Kik Messenger the boot, the famous issue of ethics is addressed. Though RIM blocked the application from BlackBerry App World, Kik’s CEO argued that their messenger application would benefit everyone – all smartphone and BlackBerry users alike as it will “enrich their users” and “everybody will win”.
If BBM is BlackBerry’s its most attractive point of difference, I believe it to be unethical for another company to produce something so similar; yes, Kik created their own messenger to stay competitive, but myself being a BlackBerry user, perhaps I am being biased in saying so, but I think applications such as BBM should stay exclusive to the brand. RIM thought of the idea first, everyone else can use text messaging.
