Blackberry have always had one feature which no other phone has had – Blackberry Messenger, or BBM as the cool kids call it. It’s an always on messaging app which allows you to send messages, photos, videos & recently now video calls between Blackberry devices for free (you need a Blackberry enabled contract). No matter how many apps come out, such as Whatsapp or iMessage, nothing has been able to come close on other devices. To my amazement Blackberry have announced they are going to open up BBM to other devices. Soon you will be able to send BBM’s from iPhones & Android devices! This got me thinking, firstly about why Blackberry have made this decision & secondly about what users reaction would be.

So why has this decision been made? I can’t really see any business sense or logic behind it. What was possibly the last unique feature that was keeping people using Blackberry’s is now no longer going to be unique. So why would someone chose one over an iPhone or Android device? The only possible business logic I can think of is they know it’s a great service and they have thought “we are loosing the device wars and market share, so lets try make some revenue from services our platform has to offer”. Following that logic, it isn’t going to be free. Perhaps they are going to charge a monthly fee to use it, but why would users pay to use BBM when there are so many free alternatives out there which are already being used? If Blackberry stand any chance of attracting users on other platforms the service has to be free, but this makes no business sense.

I’m not sure why users would make a change to use BBM now on their non-Blackberry devices. They will already be in the habit of using other services such as Whatsapp or iMessage. Just to add to the mix Google announced Hangouts at their 2013 I/O conference last week. This is their attempt at a chat service which is available on all devices & desktops. It does everything BBM can do and more plus it is absolutely free. I have tried it out & its actually really good.

I can’t help but feel Blackberry may be too late to the party with this move. Had they made it years ago, then maybe they could have been the dominant cross platform messaging service. Unfortunately now I think this is another strange move to try and nurse the suffering company along, but I don’t think it will help. What do you think?

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The first thing most users will see is the new application interface. You will then head to your desktop to find you no longer have a start menu, the  application interface takes over from your start menu.

This leads to most peoples’ main gripe, the dual nature of Windows 8, where you spend time switching from the user interface and the desktop. However, once you know this is happening you can pin programs to the task bar or add shortcuts to the desktop. At this time most applications only work within the desktop environment, so you click on your application on the application interface to be sent to the desktop, which you have most likely just left to start a new application.

The other thing users will see is on the right hand the charm bar which contains handy things like the power options, search, and start which takes you back to application interface. This is accessed by going up to the top right hand corner of the screen next to the exit cross, which can lead you to closing an application in desktop mode, if you were to accidently click.

I believe that, once users are familiar with the interface and more applications are available for it, Windows 8 (or more likely Windows 8′s successor) will be ready for the business environment.

The main thing I’ve noticed when using Windows 8 within my environment is the speed boost I’ve received when starting windows and applications, even taking into account the swapping in and out of application and desktop modes. However, this was achieved only when I spent time to configure Windows 8 for the way I work. This is not simple or intuitive and would require some knowledge.

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