BBM for Windows Phone beta saw 10,000 signups within 24 hours

+1 WPC App via Nexus 5.

Almost spilled my coffee reading this lol #Nutflex

Nutflex is a keegle device promoted by Susanne Somers on infomercials..

Yeah.....Tweeeeaaaaa!!!!

I say its true, low android device (especially chinese) here promote it was pre installed with bbm, because people have high demand for bbm.
Even lumia in here promoted there will be bbm in wp to make costumer interested to wp.
Indonesia maybe one of the highest country for using bbm service, youll see many people still using blackberry legacy device.

No. That's soooo true. Here, in Indonesia, no any longer people ask for phone number, but, ask for BBM pin is a must!!

Well, previously, lot's of people here in Indonesia carrying two devices wherever they go. One is their smartphone (either Android, iOS, and some minority, WP) and the other one is Blackberry. Most small business here (people selling something from new to used goods) heavily utilize BBM. Here, BBM is like a de facto standard for doing business. So when BBM arrive at Android and iOS, they started to ditch their blackberry and only carry their smartphone. Except WP users (which still have to carry two devices). Therefore OEMs always market their devices as BBM ready. I suppose, WP (mainly Lumia) will be marketed as such when BBM officially released to the public.

No, it's true, here every new android devices promote BBM as their pre-installed application     So if Blackberry decide to release BBM for WP it will make some changes in the market because it's a popular chatting app in Indonesia and WP will be more popular :D 

Woah!

The beta is geting better with the updates :) (i am a beta user ;) )

I sign up in the BBM beta and I couldn't donwload the app from store, why this ?

It was a two stage sign up, 1) create a BBID 2) sign in and enlist into the BBM beta program.

Chances are your on the wait list or you didn't list the primary login for windows phone account

No one cares about it...was good at one point...but now...meh

Apparently 10,000+ people disagree with you. Redefine "no one".

Well, 10,000 people signed up. Last time that I checked, the total smartphone user base was roughly 1.5 billion. 10,000/1,500,000,000 is roughly 0.000006% so...... Fine you got him, almost no one.

Well, its 10000 Windows Phone BBM Beta sign ups. So wouldn't you need to divide 10000 by the number of Windows Phone users?

That's debatable. The OP said "no one" not "no WP user" so I just assumed everyone. Still, even using just WP only brings it up to 0.0002%.

I don't debate the initial statement. I just want the percentages right. :)

Not many people know about the beta.

Your math is missing a few variables. That 10,000 was an artificial limit, not a deman-based limitation. Also, if one concludes "no one", then they should also include the millions outside of WP that already have accounts.  Heck, there might be more BBM users than WP and we know more doesn't equate better.

I was responding to your "10,000 people disagree with you" statement. If you don't like me using that variable, then you shouldn't have said it.

Ah, very good point. It was capped at 10,000. Everyone could technically care then. Only 10,000 were allowed to care. Very good point. All previous math is considered unreliable.

Come here to Indonesia. With 200 million people and a hundred million smartphone used, we have BBM installed on our phones. Asking for phone number is no longer exist. Asking for pin, yeah we are!! Sad but true. That's why Blackberry made BB Jakarta which is the capital city of Indonesia. And they made 'BB Kopi" too, it's indonesian language of "coffee". Just redefine "no one" that you said before :)

For one, it was a closed beta that had to turn people away. Two, did you forget the millions of downloads the first week on iOS and Android?

I've never used it until it came out on Windows Phone but to be honest it's not that bad at all. There's a lot of work to be done as the app performs really badly at times and my contacts/chats are lost frequently but I quite like it.

It's easy to say that with an English-speaking head on. It's easy to be cynical and think BBM is a thing of the past but the beta app and the officially released app to come are clearly strategic to certain areas where BBM is a way of life.  The take-up alone proves this. If BBM is a lure to get new users onto the platform then it is a vitally important thing, especially as BlackBerry is dying and people look to jump ship to another O/S. I don't give a toss about it and clearly you and many others don't. But that's a parochial view. In other countries where a phone is expensive and running it even more so, BBM is a lifeline for communication - this is where WP needs to focus. OK, so BBM might die in a year, but hopefully by then there will be more WP users bolted in to the ecosystem.

BlackBerry dying ,wait what. Last time I checked BlackBerry was resurrecting.

Depend on where you live I suppose. At Indonesia, BBM users ARE the majority of smartphone users.. :p

What does "tier 2 and 3 manufacturers" mean? Like how do you judge which is which? Is there a user base requirement or is it just an expression or something else?

I suppose the 2nd tier are those of Huawei, ZTE, and the like. And 3rd tier are local OEMs like Mito Mobile, Advan Digital, IMO Mobile, Nexian, Polytron, and dozen more brands that I can't even remember all (I bet you never heard most of them ^^a). Those OEMs usually sell cheap smartphones (which basically rebranded Chinese smartphones) which sell like a hot cake at lower tier of our populations (in terms of wealth).

yes, it should be. many of them produce cheap phones, and it's the way how they became popular.

Proudly I'm a beta tester too (though I was on waiting list) :P

Wow. Seriously? Didn't expect that. At all. Who knew a messaging service from a dying company was still so popular?

Because indonesia is most user bb in the world

India+

Dying...? That's why we are still making phones and we are showing better quarterly earnings. 

1) you are not blackberry, so its "them" not "we"
2) they add as many bbm users a quarter as WhatsApp does a day
3) "better" meaning falling revenue and slightly less bad operating loses. Not by selling actual phones (which they sell less and less of each quarter), but by selling assets and layoffs.
So..... Congrats? Blackberry is making phones. I guess that's an achievement. It doesn't matter if they sell, as long as they're being made..... Apparently.

Doesn't really matter to the overall argument, WA is clearly bigger and growing at faster rate, but I belive WA was on a pace of 1M users per day, BBM added 5M active users in the quarter, not sure about registered users added.

Are you just referring to my second point? Everything else I said was very relevant to what BB fan forever was saying.

My comment was meant for your second point. I didn't mean that your points were irrelevant, I just pointed out that WA isn't adding more users per day than BBM per month, however overall your point stands with WA being a higher growth and higher userbase service.

Okay, first of all, BBM is actually well known by lots of people. As long as BBM keeps growing and adding more things, It will get bigger. WhatsApp isn't even nearly as fast as BBM nor is the security great at all on Whatsapp. WhatsApp goes down about once every 2 weeks where as BBM stays up pretty much the whole time. The only time BBM goes down is when they are working on new things. BlackBerry isn't meant for everybody and it's really pointless in saying "BlackBerry is dying." Everyone said BlackBerry was going to die years ago but did it happen? No  

"BBM is known by lots of people"
And does that translate into sales? Considering the BB10 user base is roughly 10m, last time I checked, I'm guessing not. So who cares if its well known if no one uses it?
"WhatsApp isn't even nearly as fast" hasn't stopped them from having 9x as many users as BBM
"nor is security great"
hasn't stopped them from having 9x as many users as BBM
"WhatsApp goes down"
hasn't stopped them from having 9x as many users as BBM
It doesn't matter if a messaging platform is better or not if relatively no one uses
"Everybody said Blackberry was going to die years ago"
Years ago BB's stock was at $90 a share. Now it usually hovers around $9. That's a 90% loss in value. Their modern smartphones control less than a half of a percent of the market and the vast majority of its current users are switching from BB to something else.
So, ok, while Blackberry may not literally be dead, in today's world, it might as well be.

LOL! Dude you are such a hater. You can't even hide it. Here's the thing I can totally respect if you could careless about BlackBerry and BBM, really. I mean look I could care less about ballet. But I don't go on Ballet forums trying to trash the art or make a point. I'd you don't like BlackBerry or BBM then why are even commenting on the BBM article? SMH, I'm sure there is something better and more productive for you to do. LOL!

Um, "dude" this isn't a Blackberry forum - this is Windows Phone Central, so your point doesn't make much sense. And all I'm doing is stating an opinion based on economics and the current circumstances of the company in question. Since when are debates about a mobile topic taboo on a web site about mobile technology? Where do you suggest I go to discuss these kinds of topics? A baseball forum?

My response was actually for Jas, this is not a BlackBerry forum but it's about BBM and obviously neither of you think much of either so it just bewilders me why you even comment on an article about a product you don't care for, better yet why you even read the article if you could care less about it. Just stating my opinion.

TBF I don't think he is. He's just well-informed about the tech situation and happens to be in a position in the comments where he can share his knowledge.. Oh, and if you change your mind: http://www.balletcoforum.com/

LOL! Thanks for the link. Maybe you're right Chris! ... about the ballet!

BlackBerry is selling assets which it no longer requires like building also If we work on your theory, investors should have long abandoned BlackBerry but they are not . The new ceo said himself they will focus on enterprise solution for now plus you know Microsoft needs BlackBerry's support ( not only BBM but other support from BlackBerry as well) to compete with the likes of android and apple

Exactly what does Microsoft "need" from Blackberry to compete? Seriously, what? Give me specific examples, please.

Still has 113M registered and 85M active users, sure it's not WA with 700M and 500M active, but it's actually not too bad. The company was struggling for other reasons, not due to BBM being a bad service

Even there's blackberry z3 Jakarta edition device

Yupp, i like it. Its cheap about US$200

They certainly aren't "dying" because BBM was hated. This was a trusted service that had a reputation for reliability and security.  They can play off that reputation and come out of this as a service provider, even if the hardware line goes away. If I was BlackBerry, I'd license whatever they use to make messaging possible even if you don't have cellular service, to other manufacturers. They could leverage their reputation is messagin and give other manufacturers a cost effective solution for providing secure, reliable data-powered messaging.  There are certain parts of the world where that would be an immediate benefit.  I think it would spread to other parts of the world where people are starting to get leery of messaging that isn't secure. Let us not forget that Apple was one "dying". 

"Let us not forget that Apple was once "dying"" John Chen is definitely not Steve Jobs...

He's definetely not a visionary like Jobs, but he's shown with Sybase that he can turn companies around, identify growth areas and execute.

Steve Jobs wasn't "Steve Jobs" either until he "saved" Apple. I don't want to have to list a million examples of companies that have been called "dying" that reinvented themselves just to have one that you can't dimish with a catchy retort. The bottom line is that companies can and do survive by adapting. Blackberry can do it, too.

Yes, some companies CAN save themselves, but statistically speaking, they're more likely to die than revive. If blackberry even survives, it probably won't be in the mobile phone business. Right now the CEO said "if we can sell 10 million phones a year, we'll be profitable" and the current sales rate is 1.1 million a quarter. That's 4.4 million a year or to put it another way, less than half of the number needed. The Z3 could inflate numbers, but the Passport (being a high end phone) won't sell well. High end phones from almost any company not named Apple or Samsung ever sell well. John Chen knows perfectly well that he can't keep losing money for too many quarters before he has to sell the phone division, otherwise they'll be bankrupt. So, sure, while Blackberry will live to see another day and will probably be a great MDM provider or will keep raking in money from QNX, their days as a phone maker are numbered, and on MOBILE nations, that's the only thing that matters.

Mobile Nations cares about a great many things other than phone manufacturers.  Blackberry can cease to be a phone manufacturer and still have relevant services for the mobile market. I would imagine that this is their aim, or they are trying to make themselves just valuable enough to be aquired. They have a lot of intellectual property and expertise. I'd like to see the statistics of companies this size that just "die".   

Please, tell me more about this "reinvention". Last I checked they were still selling the same old thing - BBM, BES (which isn't exactly making them money hand over fist) and some weird looking phone that people are scratching their heads over. Blackberry wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for outside investment, and all that's doing is prolonging the inevitable. At some point, at the very least, they will be bought and absorbed into another company just like Motorola was. You can't bleed capital forever and survive regardless of how big you are.

Seemed faster :P

Good to see bbm but still waiting for official Google apps :(

Fuck them. Don't need them. Their u tube app looks web wrapper re have my tube,toib,metrotube. Hangouts crap,g+ crap, gmail full of spam daily, only their search is good. Bing is still to improve in providing suggestions while searching outside US. My wish is Microsoft should buy wikipedia.

Hahaha I like the way you say it ;) but I agree! To hell with google and its shit! Don't need 'em.

you gonna be waiting for a long time

wait is only for a good blogger app ... WP store only have craps ... Suggest me if u know a good app ...

All operating system have crappy apps also made by third party apps but if still wanna wait for google apps goodnight forever brother. Here we don't care about their apps. Buy another phone if u want. Because they don't care about us too.

I mentioned u many good apps even third party apps of Rudy Huyn, Ronak Manglanis physics apps, Chris Rogers my tube, The verge by Anand Prakashan, Medoh which is third party app of twitter, Jay Bennetts wp central and many more depends upon your preferences.

Choose your interconnected solution then. Blogger/Google is on record as saying that they have "no plans" to develop for Windows Phone.  If you need Blogger, get an Android. If you need Windows Phone, get your blog on WordPress or Tumblr. 

What does BBM have to do with Google. Get over it. If you want Google, you're going to have to go to Android. They are NOT going to make Windows Phone apps. You're waiting for absolutely NOTHING. Besides, the ecstacy some of you have over "official" is ridiculous. MetroTube > YouTube "official" on other platforms, is a perfect example.

Right brothers ... Fuck Google ... I m never gonna switch to android ... Planning to move my blog to WordPress ... Love WP ❤

Lolz, but that wp is also elegant.

I'm a beta user but I've got nobody to 'BBM' to :/

Same here... :P

Got 167 users 75 are from the forums.

Same here haha :p

7D262581 add me

It's time they released the app... 10,000 slots is way too small...not fair :-(

@ least they aren't limited like small devs are with their 100 limit(same as the xbox friends list lol)

I am a beta tester, glad it is on WP which I was patiently waiting for because I used it and loved it during my personal and corporate blackberry days. Now I use my Lumia 925 as personal and BYOD at work.

They close the registration before I get the chance to register :( And yes.. Having BBm pre installed is important for Indonesian market. This is one of several reasons WP hasn't been selling well here. Fun facts: one of indonesian WP blogs often filled with comments of "BBM kapan rilis?" (When BBM is going to be released?) even in articles that doesn't even related to BBM.

Thats why Indonesian guy have a important question like that. Im from Indonesia anyway wkakw

WP users in Indonesia are very interested about BBM for WP. For example, my brother and his friends are waiting for this app :D   That comment come up in (almost) every Indonesian techno news portal and forums haha

Where do you sign up for the bbm beta?

You can't now. Wait for the public version.

Its closed, wait for the official app next week.

Its still quite buggy anyway so you are better off waiting

I got beta. I am one from that 10000 sign up. :)

its over you cant sign up anyore  

BBM will be available next week. See the blog post on the BBM website, paragraph 4

I'm in the beta program, currently the app is somewhat temperamental when it comes to group chat. It is a decent app for a 1.0.0.x release when it comes to features.

& still wifiphobic as ever @ least on devices with weak wifi

I was in wait list still I got bbm . Good .

No thanks

This is crazy it should be open to the public.

Its coming next week. See the blog post paragraph 4

Well being a beta tester I can say wp8 version of bbm is better than iOS and android versions most important thing is it takes only a second to resume and 5 seconds to start up even on a 512mb device

As soon as the Beta was open, I jumped on board. As a longtime BBM user, it's great to have it on WP.

Yeah it saw many sign ups. But the app is useless mostly. In beta u have most part ready and few bugs to be fixed. That's call a beta
Beta doesn't mean u submit a broken app. It cretes bad impression. Such things never occur in iOS or rarely.

It's not 'broken', just very barebones.

Due to popularity of BBM in Indonesia, Nokia Indonesia put "BBM READY" advertising to attract new consumer to buy Lumia

I am one of the 10,000 BBM Beta user. So far I haven't seen any irregularities inthe beta version because I am not an orginal BBM user. But comparing it to BBM in other platform (iOS or Android) the BBM on WP is actually beautiful and neat. It is smooth and very intuitive. Comparing to other IM apps, you can also send audio (voice message), photos from album and camera and even your location.

Buttery smooth "

M one of those 10k

Uhmmmm, arent we missing the BIG news here? In that same blog it says BBM will be available for all Windowsphone users next week. Read paragraph 4

For those who are using it already pin:- 7d270fc5

BBM on l625, works well via WiFi, useless via 3g, need to close change 2 2g wait and only can you send! Horrible experience so far. Only sending messages to a phone next to me.

My friends (Android users) were surprised when I showed them the beta app installed on my Windows Phone, they thought it would only be released on the platform sometime in August. They also gave some compliments about the UI which looks better than the one they have on their devices. I'm just glad it didn't crash when they were checking it, I really hope the developer will bring some nice improvements on the next update. As an Indonesian, whether you like it or not, it's a must to have BBM installed on your phone.

This!

RIP

That's what people used to say about Apple in 1997. It's never over till it's over especially in the tech world when the next big thing can be totally different from what you've been working on before.

They nose dived.

Ok, I never denied that. Not sure what you're trying to say. Companies go through very tough period, doesn't mean they are dead, case in point Apple in 90s or Coke in the late 80s. I'm not saying they are guaranteed to turn it around and get it back to the levels they were at in 2008, but they're not dead, until they are dead.

It's always easier to loose then to win, BB is not doing anything new, and it will take them alot of money and time to come up with something new that will beat Apple & Android, a good example is Windows phone, think about how much money and time Microsoft is outing just to keep up with what is already in the market.
90s Apple...Apple was never famous anyways specially world wide.
80s Coke = Nokia when Apple came out.

How is 80s Coke the Nokia when Apple came out? And what does being famous have to do with being a successfuly run business? Look at MasterCard's growth rate over the past decade, would you say they are more famous than Apple? Because based on your assumption they should be. Microsoft is actually slow, they have no one to blame but themselves for that. That doesn't mean other companies can turn it around or re-invent, it doesn't necessairly need to be in mobile. For all we know BBRY can come up with some new revolutionary encryption standard that'll disrupt the market. Sure I agree, there is more downside than upside, but you're not out until you're out.

This is my 6th beer can, I am saying stuff I don't comprehend either, but what I am trying to say based on facts and actions, BB is like a penguin, the only way they can fly is of a clip and that's downwards, why still invest in BBM when there are other services in the market that are already huge.

I need to catch up on the beer count haha! I think BBM has a few things going for it, encryption is one, reliability and quickness of service is the other, with the current privacy concerns around the globe that has to count for something. Company wise, I think they are currently run by a guy who has previously done a successful turnaround (I know that doesn't guarantee that he'll succeed this time) and on the investor end they are backed by a very smart guy similar to the guy that bought coke in the late 80's ;) So there is still some hope left. 

Well it would have been over even with Steve jobs return they were weeks away from bankruptcy but Microsoft invested millions and saved them probably Microsoft worst mistake they should have let them go under coke made a similar mistake in the 60's when they could have bought Pepsi but didn't how it would of been if both companies didn't mess that all up

WP lost blackberry customers to android and iOS when bb phone users started switching platforms, just bcos WP didn't have BBM. I have a couple of friends as examples

In Indonesia, BBM is a vital app, I don't know why, but i think because it can connect people better than other chatting app. They can share everything and comment it. All of my family has it, except me. Waiting for this :)

Matthew Talbot said on twitter that BBM will be available for normal users next week.

@ least its free unlike bbc was it still required a bis account

I did

I guess I still don't understand why I need this? People with Blackberries can't message with without it?

What does BBM promise to offer that Telegram isn't already delivering on all platforms?

BBM already used to offer things long before telegram even existed

Wow..

no dark theme, no transparent live tile, no landscape mode, no friends, no dignity... well, i'm beta tester but i dont use

I've signed up on waiting list and then I was given access to beta :-)

To enroll in my app's private beta please visit
bit.ly/TymeTravel

In the beta program - it works quite well. Is good to have it truly cross-platform. Miss channels though. Looking forward to having that feature in the future.

10,000 sign up.... LOL, bullshit
10000 users on earth.... it is a dust

Beta account sign ups. Do you know how many beta accounts are there??

Interesting fact indeed!

The point is I am sick and tired of whatsapp, there is nothing that great about and I despise the fact that I have to keep giving people my number in order to keep contact... Its annoying... I would rather have have the country hhave a system generated pin than my phone number... As soon as BBM comes available im changing my phone number! I don't care about statistics and all that other BS... These apps are to be social personal apps... And BBM does just that for me.. #TeamBlackberry!!!!

Agree. BBM is a tried and tested piece of software... Whatsapp is and will always be... shit!!!

10,000.  I don't think there are 10k Blackberry owners anymore..:P

I'm using the app and with the recent update it went really well

And p.s I am pretty sure that article stated that they only made provisions for 10,000 beta testers!! Lets not count the amount of persons afterwards that tried to join and could not, they would not have had a way to record who was trying to join and could not get it..

The guy whose comment above doesn't have an appreciation attitude for something, what a pity, you're the dust!

I'm pretty sure the third paragraph says 10,000 designated beta testers!!! Are you guys only reading the headline then commenting... And on here im seeing comments about persons signing up for the beta and not using it!! If you knew you were not interested in the app, why take the time to sign up for it o,ly to not use it, somebody who actually cares could have used that spot!!

The reason why bbm was and still popular in indonesia is because blackberry was the go to device up until 2 years ago. It's just only recently people went to ios or android. Even then the legacy of BBM is still embedded in most people's mind that it's still a must-have-app in their smartphone.

7d10a12d - Not gonna deny that UI of this beta app is way better than the existing in BB or other platforms. Its just that i need to find new friends for the contact as there are only a few of hundreds on my existing bb contacts who are still active, most of them are inactive. Anyway, I'm gonna use the app when i use the app!

What does BBM bring to the table that I can't get with my current texting capability?  Or Skype?  Or FB Messenger, etc., etc.?

That's good for a beta. WPC App via Nexus 5.

I am Indonesian's, but i didn't like BBM. I prefer to use WhatsApp or Line than BBM.

I am using beta version these days.

Oi, 'murica...
It's 'couldn't care less'...not 'could care less'.
Over and out

Microsoft Team,
I need a standard yahoomail app on my WP(like on iOS &Android),Flipboard,is this too much to ask for?!

Lol this site isn't owned or related to Microsoft at all. If you want to complain go to the windows phone twitter age or windows phone uservoice.

Why would I want to use it?

Why am I not able to download it? Its saying you don't have permission to download this app

This is so true.. :'))

True

Why is BBM important to people? Just wondering....

yeah. Setting up BBM takes too long after sign up

I just wait for careless time.  It will be connecting more people all arround the world.