When Marcus Tettmar (creator of the astonishing Macro Scheduler) showed me his BlackBerry a few years ago, it took me about 48 hours until I had my own. I won’t ramble and drool here; suffice to say that I know of no-one who has downgraded from a BlackBerry to an iPhone…
As a (then) new BlackBerry user, I was a little surprised to discover that it had a chat client built in, as back then, BlackBerry devices were aimed squarely at businesses. Today’s BlackBerrys are a lot more consumer oriented, and while segments of their range are targeting either business or consumer use, some of them impressively manage to straddle both.
The BlackBerry Messenger client is a simple IM application that allows BlackBerry users to instantly send messages, photos and recordings to other BlackBerry users. It’s very simple to use, very reliable, and as most BlackBerry users have unlimited bandwidth, allows you to do all of this for free. Meaning, for example, I can instantly send my co-worker in the US a photograph of our local weather here in the UK, for free. He is quite delighted.
As a novice BlackBerry user, I assumed that there would be a desktop version of the software that I could use when sitting at my PC. But I was wrong. I assume the main reason for this is that BlackBerry have no wish to develop, distribute and support an IM client that has the potential to be used by millions of non-BlackBerry users all over the world.
So why don’t they make a desktop version that’s tied to each device by PIN? Better still, why not make a desktop version that anyone can use, but that can only communicate with BlackBerry users?
Picture the scene. You run a small business, and a handful of your employees have their own BlackBerry devices. You install the desktop application at their suggestion, and this allows you to keep in touch with them, in real time, for free, wherever they are in the world. How long will it take you to see the potential and buy your own BlackBerry? How long will it take you to realise that everyone in your company should have one?
If you can find a way to get people to use what you sell without obligation, some of them are going to become customers. The better the product, the higher the conversion rate.
Play before you pay works.
