The Verge

56 episodes

53.3 hours of content

4,915,185 total views

Back when text messages cost 10 cents each, BlackBerry came up with a better way: BlackBerry Messenger, commonly known as BBM. It was the first new idea about messaging in a long time, and it was a huge hit… for a while. Nilay Patel and Joanna Stern join David Pierce to talk about a messaging service that was years ahead of WhatsApp and iMessage, but ultimately fizzled. #VersionHistory #Podcast #Technology 0:00 The Rise of Text Messaging Costs in 2005 00:31 Introduction to BBM: A Game Changer 00:58 The Nostalgia of Early 2000s Phones 01:30 The Blackberry Era: A Cultural Phenomenon 02:01 The Birth of BBM: Revolutionizing Messaging 05:06 The Instant Messaging Boom of 2005 10:34 The Technical Backbone of Blackberry 12:53 BBM's Unique Features and Rapid Growth 26:41 The Decline of Blackberry and Rise of Competitors 30:25 BBM's Last Stand: Attempts to Save Blackberry 31:10 The Rise and Fall of BBM's Super App Vision 32:30 The Stickiness of Messaging Apps and the iPhone's Impact 33:49 WhatsApp's Emergence and BBM's Missed Opportunities 36:22 The 2011 BBM Outage and Its Aftermath 37:25 BBM's Last Stand and the 2013 Spin-Off Attempt 39:10 The Decline of BBM and the Rise of WhatsApp 41:13 Reflecting on BBM's Legacy and Missed Potential 42:27 Version History Questions: BBM's Best and Worst Features 49:08 Could BBM Have Been Saved? 58:24 Final Thoughts and Conclusion Subscribe: http://goo.gl/G5RXGs Like The Verge on Facebook: https://goo.gl/2P1aGc Follow on Twitter: https://goo.gl/XTWX61 Follow on Instagram: https://goo.gl/7ZeLvX Follow on TikTok: http://bit.ly/42VeCVU Watch The Vergecast on YouTube: https://bit.ly/40RFRkg The Vergecast Podcast: https://bit.ly/3WQDexZ Decoder with Nilay Patel: http://apple.co/3v29nDc More about our podcasts: https://www.theverge.com/podcasts Read More: http://www.theverge.com Community guidelines: http://bit.ly/2D0hlAv Wallpapers from The Verge: https://bit.ly/2xQXYJr Shop our Verge merch store here: https://bit.ly/4kPCmEc Subscribe to The Verge: https://bit.ly/3FT6n5S Subscribe to The Vergecast on YouTube, new episodes on Tuesday and Friday: https://bit.ly/3I6nJtz If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may receive a commission without exerting any influence on editorial content. For more information about our ethics policy, visit: https://www.theverge.com/ethics-state...