Alec Saunders is VP of developer relations for Research In Motion.

Have developers embraced BBM integration with apps?
Absolutely – since launching the BBM Social platform in July last year, we’ve seen strong developer uptake. Developers are recognising that BBM integration adds an entirely new dimension to their apps which is helping to drive user stickiness. With more than 55 million active BBM users, 70% of whom use it every day, our developers are finding that it’s a great way of driving new downloads for existing apps. We launched with support from leading developers including fourSquare, Wikitude and Poynt and this community is continuing to grow quickly. Over the past five months, we’ve hosted seven BBM Hackathon workshops across the world for developers, all of which have sold-out. 

Likewise, are consumers keen on socially-connected apps?
BBM is the world’s largest mobile social network, with billions of messages sent across the platform each day and over 20 million group users worldwide.  Building on this popularity, BBM has evolved from a pure communications service to a platform for integrated collaboration and engagement. A key element of this is our BBM Connected Apps:  as of this month, there are now 586 BBM Connected Apps available globally and there has been 148 million downloads since launch, with an average of over 800,000 downloads per day. The social element of BBM Connected Apps brings a richer, more integrated user experience which is driving uptake, discoverability and interaction. As an example, fourSquare updated its app to become a BBM Connected app and saw a record-breaking 200,000 downloads in just one day, proving that the consumer demand for socially integrated apps is clearly there.

How much of a threat does the growth of cross-platform apps such as WhatsApp pose to vendor offerings such as BBM?
Other cross-platform apps solely deliver communications but BBM offers so much more in terms of the level of user collaboration and engagement. This is illustrated by BBM Music, a BlackBerry Messenger service launched last November which enables viral music discovery between BBM users. By partnering with the world’s leading record companies, we’ve created a catalogue of over 10 million tracks which users can download and share with their fellow BBM friends. Within the first day of launch alone, BBM Music attracted over 20,000 downloads. With five million additional tracks expected in the near future, we anticipate that the social integration which this service and BBM Connected apps incorporate will maintain the growth and stickiness of the platform as a whole.
 
Does the growth of third-party messaging services pose a threat for mobile operators? How can they look to mitigate this?
The mobile ecosystem is constantly evolving: the emergence of third-party messaging services provides an opportunity, as opposed to a threat to the operator community. The consumer appetite for data-driven messaging services, such as BBM, is driving subscriber uptake of data packages and higher-end smartphones, ultimately benefiting operators’ own bottom-line.

With the rollout of next-generation mobile networks, is a shift of voice services to third-party apps inevitable?
The roll-out of next-generation mobile networks will be a positive step for the wider industry and bring benefits to all players. Consumers are increasingly demanding a richer mobile communications experience and this is highlighted by the success of services such as BBM. Ultimately, we believe that it will be consumer choice which will drive mobile usage habits and integrating a strong social element which stimulates engagement and interaction will play a key role within this.

Will technologies like RCS-e provide a way for operators to bolster their position in the face of enhanced competition?
RCS-e represents an opportunity for operators to evolve their traditional messaging business which has been such a strong revenue generator for them for many years. With commercial deployments expected later this year, it should be another interesting development in the evolution of the industry as a whole.