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Chat with me: Embracing BBM all over again
Several women are glued to their cell phones in Jakarta
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Several women are glued to their cell phones in Jakarta. Indonesian consumers are known to have three or four different messaging apps on their smartphones. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira) (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)
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span class="inline inline-none">Several women are glued to their cell phones in Jakarta. Indonesian consumers are known to have three or four different messaging apps on their smartphones. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)
Herdy Kusuma had said goodbye to his BlackBerry phone, but could not resist the temptation of having its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) messaging service on his Samsung Galaxy S4.
The opportunity came following a move by Canadian telecommunications company BlackBerry Limited to make the formerly exclusive messenger app available on multiple platforms.
'I was only curious when I decided to download it. I just wanted to know how it performed. There was also a bit of nostalgia in it too,' said the 34-year-old freelance photographer.
He was pleasantly surprised when he found he could retrieve his old BBM contacts after the installation.
'I now have the contacts of my clients and friends from my old ID. BBM actually runs better on Android; there's no more frustrating spinning hourglass moments,' Herdy said.
Herdy said he preferred the practicality of WhatsApp ' a rival messenger service ' but that he had connections on BBM that he could not lose.
WhatsApp is the messenger apps board leader with 300 million active users across the globe. WhatsApp Inc. announced it was processing 27 billion messages each day and said Indonesia had one of the heaviest volumes of messages processed per day in Southeast Asia.
iPhone 4 user Rully Anggara said he was also curious about having BBM on his smartphone as he had never used a BlackBerry.
'I actually like its appearance, but that's about it. I'm not planning to add contacts to it or use it actively. I already have WhatsApp and Line; they're enough for me,' said the 28-year-old.
Rully said she enjoyed conversing through the expressive stickers offered by Line.
As of July, more than 200 million people around the world communicate through Line, with Japan claiming 45 million Line users, Taiwan and Thailand 15 million each, and Indonesia more than 14 million.
Former BBM user Sisca Wardhana said she had no intention of returning to the messenger app.
'It crashed multiple times on my BlackBerry. I've had enough of that spinning clock,' she said.
Sisca said BBM had no special feature compared to other apps, adding that the rampant abuse of BBM broadcast messages and Ping functions within the Indonesian BBM community were also a major turn-off for her.
'Besides, everyone's also on WhatsApp and Line and many other apps. I don't think I'm missing anything without a BBM; there are always other ways to make connections,' she said.
BlackBerry's multi-platform move is believed to be a strategy to reclaim the brand's equity after being usurped by Apple and Android-run phones, which renders BBM obsolete amid the emergence of free messaging apps that work across a range of devices.
BlackBerry has even confirmed its plans to bring new features to its cross-platform messaging app, and it has confirmed its intention to keep the service free forever.
In the coming months, BlackBerry is planning to provide a telephony service through BBM Video and BBM Voice for iPhone and Android users. The company is also planning to launch BBM Channel, aimed at catering communities for more extensive interaction between BBM users.
Yolanda Nainggolan, BlackBerry Indonesia spokesperson, said Indonesia was one of BlackBerry's focus countries and the company was planning to maintain its market in the country through its consumer and enterprise segment as well as BBM development.
'Indonesia's BBM users are among the most active and creative. They are not only using BBM to chat, but also to support productivity. BBM in Indonesia has been utilized to support online business and information and activity sharing between friends and relatives,' Yolanda said.
The cross-platform free BBM app has been launched at a time when demand for BlackBerry devices is abating.
Market estimates show that, following global trends, BlackBerry's market share in Indonesia is crumbling. A study by the International Data Corporation (IDC) showed that toward the end of 2012, the market share of Android had grown to 52 percent, overtaking BlackBerry as the most popular operating system in the country.
The IDC also predicts that this year, Android will retain its leadership with a 53 percent market share, leaving BlackBerry holding 35 percent.
PT Samsung Electronics Indonesia, the local arm of the Korean multinational electronics company and producer of Galaxy smartphones and tablets, has claimed it supplied 80 percent of all Android smartphones used in Indonesia.
Febri Rusli, Samsung mobile product marketing manager, said that Android benefited as an open source platform that enabled consumers to download a lot of applications according to their needs.
'The mushrooming application messengers nowadays are a trend following the demand from the consumer,' Febri said.
Samsung has its own instant messenger app ChatOn, which was released in late 2011. Reports said that it currently had around 100 million users worldwide. Febri, however, was not able to give ChatOn a user number in Indonesia.
Febri said the recent release of the cross-platform BBM was welcomed.
'The new application will give more choice among other messenger applications that are currently available for Android users,' he says.
Herdy, Rully and Sisca agreed that in a perfect world, they would only need to use just one messenger app.
'But there are so many choices of apps and platforms. People also have their own preferences. We just have to cope with it,' Herdy said.
