Mike Lazaridis

In a recent interview, ex-co-CEO of BlackBerry Mike Lazaridis commented on BlackBerry Messenger going cross-platform. As you might expect, he figures BBM stands a good chance at succeeding on iOS and Android. 

"BBM is by far the most compelling wireless experience and wireless social-networking environment. ... [Thorsten Heins is] speaking to the confidence he has in the platform. ... Not only is BlackBerry back in a big way with BB10, he’s also showing he can expand that vision to other platforms."

Our own Chris Umiastowski has already laid out a lot of great arguments for why BBM on other platforms is a great move,  plus the inventor of BlackBerry Messenger is understandably excited about the whole thing, but it's good to see that the old blood still has faith in the company and its current direction.  

How do you guys see the move? Do any of y'all have buddies that switched to iOS and Android that might be willing to give BBM a shot?

My biggest question is about how they'll monetize the whole thing. It seems sensible that they might lock away particular features behind in-app purchases, but some, like screen sharing, will be very tricky to get right. 

Read more