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I don't think it was so much a Apple getting it right in a technical sense, rather that when it debuted US carriers were still charging real money for texting a
by ics 4y ago
I don't think it was so much a Apple getting it right in a technical sense, rather that when it debuted US carriers were still charging real money for texting and Apple stopped tip-toeing around the issue when they had enough partners. Recall the iPhone was originally exclusive to AT&T, then AT&T + Verizon, then Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. Sure, many people were on omnibus family plans for $X00s/month, but those people grew up to get their own plans, actual fast data was becoming a thing, and priorities just shifted. Why would you pay $$ just to text, if it's just text? I'm having a hard time looking up what the average costs were for Blackberry, but by the time they were in the hands of the masses, kids to adults, the iPhone and iMessage had too much momentum.
- TSUTiger 4y agoI've been on the BB ecosystem and usually was between the major carriers. If I recall correctly, some carriers charged a small $10 premium for the Blackberry Data plan versus the normal data plan -- for others it was the same. BBM if you recall was the cool, exclusive phone (think early Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton), but then iPhone came along and had cool apps. They were Blackberry exclusive until they started losing share to Android and iPhone. By the time it was too late, you could use BBM on iPhone and Android. To me, iMessage is the same, (maybe even less than BBM was more like a chatroom too) but has reigned supreme for longer.