The instant message provider has said it would shut down its service in the country if it was requested too during times of trouble. Reuters are reporting that RIMs executive Stephen Bates said the company would gladly comply with orders given in times of terrorism threats or mass unrest.

Bates said “From our perspective we comply with the law and if the instruction would be to close down the mobile networks, we would then comply”. It was widely reported at the time that such services were used by the trouble makers to organize and incite the violence.

It looks like the majority of rioters preferred BBM over the likes of Twitter because it is more private and messages are encrypted. Since the government first said it may disrupt such services in the future, it has since backed down and said it wouldn’t go that far. The home secretary, Theresa may, has been meeting with Police and representatives from Facebook, Twitter, and RIM.

Any such move to restrict such services were quickly condemned and likened to the actions of more repressive countries. Bates added that social media was a good thing and didn’t think suspending these was “a good way forward”.

Meanwhile Alexander Macgillivray from Twitter said the police even used its service for good during periods of crisis, and Facebook’s Richard Allan said social media allowed users to know families and friends were safe. RIM has not said whether it would hand over any chat logs or user details to police during the troubles.

More About: BBM, BlackBerry Messenger, RIM

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On first glance, we could suggest that by giving BBM to its rivals, RIM have and will shoot themselves in the foot. The concept of smartphone messaging was first invented by RIM, and is one of the solid reasons that BlackBerry’s are still very popular with certain crowds.

Since it’s conception, a number of open-sourced, openly available, cross-mobile BBM-like messaging applications have surfaced such as WhatsApp and Kik Messenger that enable a BlackBerry user to chat to an iPhone or Android user in a BBM-like fashion.

RIM are said to be not very happy about this, and have realised that they could expand the BBM service cross platform by means of taking complete control of the messaging market on smartphones, but for a small fee.

Details are sparse for the time being, but what we do know is that RIM will offer the stripped down BBM service to Android and iOS users, which could see file transfer and location sharing disabled for non-users of BlackBerry smartphones.

Although it could potentially seem like a suicide note wrote in pencil, RIM may actually have a case here but as we said, details are rather hazy for the time being.

BGR are reporting that Android BBM is definitely going ahead at some point this year, whereas an iOS version is still in the early stages. Reasons to go with Android first are quite simple. It will be easier to develop and integrate into the open-system architecture, where as the iOS platform is more of a stumbling block.

We will provide you with more information as we recieve it, but for the time being BlackBerry users, your BBM is still exclusive to you.

How do you feel about BBM being made available cross-platform?

More About: Apple iPad 2, BlackBerry Messenger, Research in Motion

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Jonathan S of BGR is reporting that many trusted sources are saying the company is planning on bringing its BlackBerry Messenger service to Android, and maybe one day to iOS as well. The sources are claiming that RIM have yet to sort details such as pricing or timing, but they might make it available free for all users.

The final decision on this is still being worked on, and they may end charging a one off fee for users or a regular fee for access on other platforms. You may think that this would be a strange thing to do by RIM, but it may be a good idea in the long term.

It is thought Android and iOS users will be offered a more basic service that BlackBerry owners enjoy. Potentially RIM could entice customers away from other platforms by giving them a small taste of what BlackBerry can offer.

The sources are claiming the service will definitely be on Android sometime this year, and they decided to go with Android first because being an open platform it will be easier to achieve. An iOS version is also planned sometime in the future, but whether Apple would want to get into bed with RIM is another matter.

Some quarters may say that RIM is getting desperate, as competition gets stronger from the likes of Android and even Windows. What do you think? Would you like to see BlackBerry Messenger on Android and iOS?

More About: Android, BlackBerry Messenger, iOS, RIM

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BlackBerry Messenger is a popular service built-in to all BlackBerry smartphones, it allows quick and easy instant messaging between you and your friends smartphones, however I must admit that it is quite limited in terms of functionality.

The new version of BlackBerry Messenger will allow various functions to be integrated into the BBM service, RIM say that developers will be able to include chat capabilities and invitations in their apps.

This means that you will be able to invite fellow BBM contacts to multplayer games and chat within the games, this will in my opinion increase the popularity of great games which are available from BlackBerry App World and perhaps increase the usage of BBM.

We do not yet know when these changes will be rolled out, therefore we will have to keep you posted.

What changes would you like to see made to BlackBerry Messenger?

More About: blackberry, BlackBerry Messenger, RIM

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