BlackBerry Messenger 6.0 releasing today - BBM Social, and new sharing options front and center
After some whispers of a launch, RIM's instant messenging client BlackBerry Messenger has been updated to version 6.0. Since this has been in beta for awhile now, we're already well-acquainted with many of the features.
Context & Ripple Effects
This lands mid-crisis-year for RIM: after showing off BlackBerry 6 on video in April 2010, the company followed in May 2011 with a BlackBerry 7 OS announcement that drops legacy-device support, splitting its own installed base. Meanwhile the PlayBook has been a running sore — a confirmed recall of faulty Staples units in May, and unconfirmed retail-source claims of sales missing targets by over 90% at one big-box chain and of a scrapped 10-inch model.
Against that backdrop, shipping BlackBerry Messenger 6.0 out of a long beta reads as RIM playing its one uncontested asset: the BBM network. BBM Social and the new sharing options turn a messaging client into a platform surface that third-party apps can plug into, and they give BlackBerry 7 hardware a software reason to exist beyond spec-sheet parity.
First-order effects
- RIM's BBM user base gets social-graph integration and in-chat content sharing immediately, deepening lock-in on the network RIM controls end-to-end.
- Third-party BlackBerry developers gain a distribution hook through BBM Social, letting apps piggyback on RIM's messaging graph rather than building their own invitation flows.
Second-order effects
- The BBM 6 feature set widens the gap between BlackBerry 7 devices and the legacy handsets BlackBerry 7 abandons, pressuring RIM's own upgrade cycle while giving carriers a refresh pitch.
- If BBM-as-platform gains traction, rival smartphone makers face a messaging moat that OS-level feature catch-up alone doesn't neutralize — pushing them toward their own proprietary messaging plays.
Third-order effects
- Messaging is shifting from a bundled client into a strategic platform asset whose value is independent of the hardware it shipped on — a structure that could eventually see RIM extend BBM beyond its own devices if handset fortunes keep eroding, as the rumored QNX superphone pivot implies.
- For carriers, rich messaging platforms owned by handset vendors erode the SMS revenue line they still book, a slow structural squeeze as social-integrated clients become default communication layers.
The trend: Mobile messaging is evolving from a device-bundled feature into a vendor-owned social platform, with RIM betting its network effect can outlast its hardware slump.