I’ve read several posts today that seem to be making a mountain out of mole hill when it comes to Kik Messenger being pulled from BlackBerry App World. For those not familiar with Kik Messenger, it is a cross platform IM client that has seen ridiculous growth over the past couple of weeks. Last Friday, RIM informed Kik that Kik Messenger would no longer be available for download on BlackBerry App World and that the couldn’t really reason cite the reason why. Not giving a reason was kind of stupid on RIM’s part, but, everyone is jumping to a huge conclusion that the reason was because RIM sees Kik as a threat to BBM.
That might be true if it weren’t for the fact that Kik, or anyone for that matter, can host whatever BlackBerry software they want on their own server and allow users to download it until their heart is content. Unlike on the iPhone and Windows Phone 7 devices, every BlackBerry is capable of downloading and installing BlackBerry software directly from the web. As a matter of fact, I believe that most BlackBerry software is still download from places other than BlackBerry App World (although the trend is changing).
The fact that Kik hasn’t yet allowed BlackBerry users to download Kik Messenger directly from their site tells me that RIM’s halt of Kik Messenger for BlackBerry downloads from BlackBerry App World might have more to do with Kik Messenger than it does to do with whether RIM thinks that it is a threat to BBM…
Throughout the whole post, I couldnt catch what your point was :/
That’s what I get for posting when sleepy…
My point was that RIM pulling Kik wasn’t as big a deal as many were making it out to be. RIM clearly didn’t pull Kik because they see it as a threat to BBM, but, even if RIM did, pulling it from App World wouldn’t stop Kik from hosting it on their own server and the the buzz that would be generated around RIM removing it for that reason would have sent droves to their site to download.
I have kik installed on my BlackBerry and the application is definitely a little buggy. Battery improvements have been made, but, the app leaks memory cheap faucet does water. I am guessing that, bugs, and the concern over how kik scrubs your contacts were the main reason that RIM removed it from App World, and, the fact that you can’t download Kik from Kik, means that they are working with RIM to get issues cleared up.
Do you think Kik will ever be availiable for bb again :(…becuz id like to try it.i hear its soo awsum
well kik my **bleep** pal..,kik is the best cross platform application for us who have friends or family which are not using BB to chat…