You are here

CB » News & Rumors » PingMe will no longer support BlackBerry or Windows Phone
PingMe
RIM holds a BlackBerry 10 Hong Kong App Contest Briefing Previous
Use your helicopter skills with Fly Cargo for the BlackBerry PlayBookNext
34 Comments

PingMe will no longer support BlackBerry or Windows Phone

By Kerri Neill on 8 Dec 2012 03:06 pm
2
loading...
10
loading...
80
loading...

In an email I received today from RadiumOne Labs, the developers of PingMe, have decided to cease all BlackBerry and Windows Phone support starting December 31st of this year.

PingMe is a cross-platform messaging application similar to BBM. The app has gotten many mixed reactions due to freezing up, battery drain and the dreaded spinning clock so I’m not really shocked by this news. It did have several nice features including integrated news feed, push notifications, friend finder and the always favorite FREE for Life. Sadly it looks like that life is going to be a short lived one.

The official email from RadiumOne Labs is below.

PingMe is Parting Ways With BlackBerry and Windows Phone

We’re sad to announce that we will no longer support BlackBerry and Windows Phone devices. Starting December 31, 2012, service on both platforms will no longer be compatible with newer versions of PingMe. After long deliberation, our team decided that it is crucial for us to focus on making our iPhone and Android apps the best they can possibly be. It saddens us to leave you PingMe-less, but we hope you’ll understand why we had to make this tough decision. Thank you for your tremendous support and encouragement.

Sincerely, The PingMe Team
In all honesty, with all the mixed reviews with this application, I kind of saw this coming. I tried using PingMe several times on all our mobile platforms. It really never worked as flawlessly as one would hope so it never caught on in my household. I'm curious if this was true with anyone else? If you used PingMe, did you love it or hate it? Are you saddened or shocked at all? Let us know how you feel in the comments.

Topics: BlackBerry Apps PingMe News & Rumors BlackBerry Apps

RIM holds a BlackBerry 10 Hong Kong App Contest Briefing Previous
Use your helicopter skills with Fly Cargo for the BlackBerry PlayBookNext
Kerri Neill Kerri Neill 162 (articles) 449 (forum posts)
34 comments

TnTimberry

Funny! The app designed to mimic BBM no longer supports BB

sk8er_tor

What's even more funny is that the developer couldn't make a simple chat client work. Heck, RIM even lets them use their push services to allow for better battery and reliability and they still couldn't figure it out.

ciscobear

This app was crap anyways, drained battery really quickly. BBM or nothing at all. Can't even stand whatscrap. Why should I give you my phone number again? Hell no

parvezjj

it drained battery like crazy.. wasn't worth it at all but the concepts were nice.. meh, not a loss

goku_vegeta

I agree with all the above posts so far. I had used PingMe as all the other messaging clients for BlackBerry to see how they compare to BBM. They're all pretty good concepts, some better than others but in reality the only one that has gotten any sort of large take up is WhatsApp and I'm assuming this is due to the large adoption by iOS and Android users. Still, I haven't found a single one which I have said "Yes this is an actual BBM competitor" or "This is as good as BBM"

jamesharmeling

Huh? Never heard of them. Hope the screen door doesn't smack'em on their way out the door. See ya!

canuckvoip

Ping who?
What..... EVER

Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes

No one has accountability in this world. How are you "sad" that you longer support blackberry. You made the choice to stop supporting it, and can support if you so please. Just port the app. They try to make it sound like it is something beyond their control.

Whatever, its a no name app trying to be BBM

Adva_

Typical BB fan reaction.
If an app isn't on BB then it's the worst app of all. It is always "Who cares? No loss." etc. That attitude is what brought RIM where it is now. Came back to bite them to 3rd/4th place from #1.
Not that I support either company going away or anyting...

jstarett

And this is a typical non-BB fan reaction when an app is actually crap. So what we can't say an app is bad unless they continue to support us?

Craig4444

I think we are missing the point. I dont know this app at all, never used it, so if its crap or not is of no consequence. The bigger picture is this is an app and (development group) that has elected to focus on the two biggest platforms. The message there is that its a two horse race, and they are focusing on what they think is important. Sadly the implications are windows phone and blackberry are not important to them. Now before all my fellow BB fan boys pile on, this is not a comment on the quality of Blackberry, it is the reality of the north americian smart phone market. All indications are that BB 10 will be a gigantic step forward, and has some features that will blow iphone and android away. However, it has to make a dent in the market so that it is considered relavent, and has a place in the collective minds of users. If it doesnt, and if it's market potential and penetration is considered not worthy of development, its technical prowess will be moot.

Craig4444

I think we are missing the point. I dont know this app at all, never used it, so if its crap or not is of no consequence. The bigger picture is this is an app and (development group) that has elected to focus on the two biggest platforms. The message there is that its a two horse race, and they are focusing on what they think is important. Sadly the implications are windows phone and blackberry are not important to them. Now before all my fellow BB fan boys pile on, this is not a comment on the quality of Blackberry, it is the reality of the north americian smart phone market. All indications are that BB 10 will be a gigantic step forward, and has some features that will blow iphone and android away. However, it has to make a dent in the market so that it is considered relavent, and has a place in the collective minds of users. If it doesnt, and if it's market potential and penetration is considered not worthy of development, its technical prowess will be moot.

ferre_kun

I don't use any chat apps other than ввм™ anymore.

Stychill

I on the other hand hardly use bbm anymore, i spend more time in whatsapp then any other messaging application...

green_ember

Kinda defeats the purpose of cross-platform, doesn't it? Just sayin'...

DisturbedRocks31

This is a terrible app on pretty much all platform anyways. Read a couple of reviews for it on Google Play and people were complaining about the battery drain so not really good app.

Stychill

lol, i had never even heard of it until i read this article

digitalhomeboy

Blah, I never even heard of PingMe until I saw this post..there's still SMS for other platform users and I still have 2463 of 2500 texts that I could send. :)

diegonei

My hopes are all on FaceFlow. Cross-platrorm text and video chat.

To all saying you never heard of it, clearly you don't follow the news, this app was a source of lots of posts.

To all bashing ... Don't you guys have something better to do with your time?

DJBS4LIFE

App was CRAP! I can't wait for BB10! \m/

brunolovesbrit

We gave up on this thing so long ago lol

Maiev

I had the email a few days ago. The app was terrible, drain app and didnt use a smart way to find people like whatsapp. It also ate battery and even resource monitor terminate it.

It was set to fail.

zensen

Good luck to them but with other apps multi-platform, you'll be hard pressed to keep followers.

It's also a shame cause they could have built a huge following on the "newer" platforms. WP8 and BB10. I just feel this is shortsightedness on their part.

anyways, i never used it nor felt the need due to its problems though not even hinting on a return doesn't do them any favours.

Jimcmf

Who needs them? They will close shop very soon now that they said goodbye to a possible 86 million users. What a stupid company move.

Go RIM Go !

wcsh

You wont see any tears here, In fact the day will come when BB10 is out and in full swing, and you read so and so is dropping iOS or Android, as BB10 has taken mobile by storm.

GO RIM GO!

Skeevecr

It always surprises me that any of these bbm ripoffs actually gain any traction at all, bbm comes for free, but you have to choose to use these other ones so why don't people go for the ones that are actually cross-platform like gtalk etc. rather than the ones that are only on mobile platforms.

LuayS

I had a bunch of em, Ping! LiveProfile only one I ever still use is whatsapp. Although BBM is more frequently used. Majority of my Iphone ppl I still text.

BlackberryTorcher

Hahahhaha. This is my first time hearing about this app! BBM 7 is all you need haha

uncaringbear

Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

Rootbrian

I only used it a few times and to be quite honest, there was always a "phantom" icon that would cover the screen, making the device useless unless you rebooted or pulled the battery, or switched out of it. It was like that until you started pingme, then it would still be, idle like that. That was the only gripe I had.

Sorry to hear them taking the reduction route. Buy pingme, I didn't get to add anyone because they never got the invite.