Boston, MA 08/25/2014 (wallstreetpr) – BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), or Research in Motion Limited as it was formerly known, is taking aim at Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iMessage from a security point of view. Following reports that iMessage users face quite a bit of spam, BlackBerry is taking advantage of the situation to ask iMessage user to switch to its secure mobile messaging platform, which is known as BlackBerry Messenger or BBM.
No Spam Threats
In touting BBM over iMessage, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) provided five key reasons why BBM is a better mobile messaging platform than its rivals on the market. For example, the company said BBM only allows messages from contacts, and it does not use email address or phone number. BlackBerry also highlighted BBM’s ability to be used across platforms. BBM is available on Android and iOS devices among others.
The increase in iMessage spam has been linked to the manner in which Apple has deeply integrated desktop and mobile, which gives way to spammers. However, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also offers various protections that iMessage users can take advantage of to keep safe from spam. Nonetheless, given iMessage’s growing popularity with spammers, Apple may have to take more aggressive measures or BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) would step in to fill the void as it is already trying to do so that it gets more people to download BBM.
Platform Competition
Despite the security features that BBM boasts about, the messaging platform is still dwarfed by rivals. For example, last year, BBM users on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices exchanged about 10 billion messages per day. That was a far cry from 50 billion messages exchanged on WhatsApp, for instance, per day during the same period. As a matter of fact, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s BBM ranks at 56, far below rival services.
The penetration of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)‘s Android and iOS into the enterprise market is also another serious challenge that BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) faces in promoting its mobile messaging app. The company has also lost significant ground in the handset market. However, BlackBerry is trying to make a comeback, and some much has been achieved the new CEO, John Chen.
