With the BBM for Windows beta coming out, we got a look at a native, Windows Phone-looking app, that is sure to appeal to those users that are familiar with that style of design and UI. Unfortunately, this has not been the case with the Android and iPhone apps during the time that they’ve been out, but it looks like this may be changing.
During a Q&A today at the BlackBerry Security Summit, we asked BlackBerry President John Sims about BBM and how the look of the app may change in the future for Android and iPhone users based on what we’ve seen with the Windows Phone version.
According to Sims, the prevailing philosophy from previous management was that the BBM app in the cross-platform world would be better served if it looked the same, basically like the BlackBerry 10 app, on Android and iPhone. Sims disagrees with that, “Our view of that is that’s not the case.”
The BBM experience on iPhone and Android “needs to be more of a native app experience,” added Sims. “You can expect to see that manifest itself in our Android and iPhone BBM apps.”
Sims did not mention a timeline for these updates, and for this UI redesign, but hopefully it won’t take long. One of the biggest complains from users that downloaded but failed to stay with BBM was that it was a bit confusing.
The current BBM apps do not follow guidelines for Android and iPhone, and for those users, having an app that follows these patterns is crucial for ease and constant use. Just think of how much more we prefer native BlackBerry 10 apps and how they look, over their Android counterparts. The same idea has to be applied for BBM on these other platforms, and it’s clear new BlackBerry management is aware of this. The redesign of how its main consumer focused app, BBM, looks on other platforms will surely impact how much other users support it. That’s why this is a great idea.
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