BlackBerry CEO John Chen Says Apple Should Be Required to Open iMessage to Other Platforms

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Posted January 22, 2015 at 7:28pm by iClarified

In a blog post adapted from a letter to U.S. government officials, BlackBerry CEO John Chen encourages support for net neutrality and application/content neutrality.

Chen touts BlackBerry's opening of the BBM service to iOS and Android platforms and the release of BES12 mobile device management software which is designed to manage devices that run on various platforms.

He takes issue with Apple for not making iMessage available on anything but iOS and Netflix for not making its service available to BlackBerry users.

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Unfortunately, not all content and applications providers have embraced openness and neutrality. Unlike BlackBerry, which allows iPhone users to download and use our BBM service, Apple does not allow BlackBerry or Android users to download Apple’s iMessage messaging service. Netflix, which has forcefully advocated for carrier neutrality, has discriminated against BlackBerry customers by refusing to make its streaming movie service available to them. Many other applications providers similarly offer service only to iPhone and Android users. This dynamic has created a two-tiered wireless broadband ecosystem, in which iPhone and Android users are able to access far more content and applications than customers using devices running other operating systems. These are precisely the sort of discriminatory practices that neutrality advocates have criticized at the carrier level.
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Chen goes on to say that "neutrality must be mandated at the application and content layer if we truly want a free, open and non-discriminatory internet. All wireless broadband customers must have the ability to access any lawful applications and content they choose, and applications/content providers must be prohibited from discriminating based on the customer’s mobile operating system."

What do you think of Chen's perspective? Do you think companies should be forced to develop products that are compatible with competing platforms? Let us know in the comments.

You can read Chen's full blog post at the link below...

BlackBerry CEO John Chen Says Apple Should Be Required to Open iMessage to Other Platforms

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One Word - January 24, 2015 at 3:14pm

Compete!

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Free txt for ALL! - January 23, 2015 at 7:30pm

iMessage for PC would be super Skype txt works well - but all user have it. Hate paying my carrier a single cent more than they already steal. (US is among the most expensive counties to use cell phones in.....)

Blackapino - January 23, 2015 at 7:21am

This Guy's a Joke, First they Had BBM and when Apple introduced iMessage i didn't see RIM asking Then...So why do it now? It's simple, RIM is irrelevant in the Smartphone Arena which is Dominated by Apple,Samsung and Windows, and Various OTHER Phone makers

Extremenz - January 23, 2015 at 3:38am

Great. Err, what does this have to do with Net Neutrality?

Jon Snow - January 23, 2015 at 3:38am

RIM has just become that jealous, whiney sibling that wasn't as good as the other child.

Ken - January 23, 2015 at 1:07am

Please point out which part of his post was racist, or are you one of those people who just like to play the racism card?

say no to racism - January 23, 2015 at 1:15am

Stereotyping a Chinese as greedy and ethical already can be put up for debate but is not directly involved in racism. However using the username chin ky chi nk is like a white person calling a black person N***. hope that clarify things.

Techno - January 23, 2015 at 12:10am

Desperation will come from all angle, why specifically ask for IMessage when they can design something that will be competitive againts IMessage? Oh I forgot, they only have 20 developers and got bought out...my bad.

SimonSays - January 23, 2015 at 12:02am

Why should apple do this? I never saw bb do it until they lost all of their customers to the competition. The only reason they did it at all was to keep what little customers their had left.

JulianHernandez - January 22, 2015 at 11:23pm

That would be awesome, but apple would be losing a lot of costumers. Being an android user, the only thing I miss from my iPhone is a imessage. (buut, still not enough to make me switch back) but it they did bring imessage to other platforms, I think I would be saying adios to iPhone forever.

gamerscul9870 - January 22, 2015 at 11:31pm

Just jailbreak and that will solve the answer to what you need.

JulianHernandez - January 22, 2015 at 11:57pm

Why go thru all tht trouble when I can buy a better phone for the same price and have all my features come right out the box

gamerscul9870 - January 23, 2015 at 1:04am

Because you get anything than what android gets, plus you save more space without getting some features you won't plan to use. Even without computers, it's still less trouble anyway.

Zanka - January 23, 2015 at 2:00am

I highly doubt Apple would lose customers if they actually did offer iMessage to others lol. Who buys a phone solely on its texting application. If anything folks should worry about beefing up their own app/ music stores to compete with Apple.

Zanka - January 23, 2015 at 2:02am

Better phones? You mean the ones that all look just like the iPhone 4s lol. Or the ones with the plastic backs that'll probably lose their battery if it hits the ground lol

gamerscul9870 - January 23, 2015 at 2:28am

Not to mention no way of tracking phones with removable battery's once stolen.

JulianHernandez - January 23, 2015 at 2:36am

My phone is about to die so you won't see me for a while ... Nevermind let me just pop my spare battery in, it's rare anyone even recovers their phone with find my iPhone anyway, and talking about tht theft precautions, there are endless options with that in android

gamerscul9870 - January 23, 2015 at 2:39am

The spare battery that you won't charge without it being in the phone? No seriously, when was the other battery full from? I carry a genneo for my iPhone. Cuts my electric bill by 1/5.

JulianHernandez - January 23, 2015 at 4:17am

Not worth defiling a phone to make like a 1 you should've bought in the first place

Sami - January 22, 2015 at 9:51pm

I think it would be cool but Apple should charge at least $0.99 for people downloading on other platforms. This will compete with whatsapp and viber. Most people on other platforms are using those services to have an iMessage-style instant messaging environment for cross-platform communication.

gamerscul9870 - January 22, 2015 at 9:15pm

Why not make it an app to download. Apple allowing the app to another os is like wanting to get involved with others work. Besides, who's going to use iMessage if that app was designed for ios? The app and android/windows/bbm/etc. don't go together like that.

NoGoodNick - January 22, 2015 at 8:17pm

Great, Blackberry, who USED to push their more 'secure' phone, is now pushing Apple to surrender their 'We can't give any governments the backdoor key to their messages' and allow the U.S., Russia, China and a thousand other despots access to ANYTHING that anyone writes that they want to suppress. No thanks. That's another nail in the coffin of Blackberry. If they don't believe in the sanctity of individual privacy--especially within the context of personal protest--then I'll NEVER purchase another of their products!

..::Philip::.. - January 22, 2015 at 8:05pm

Is he joking?

HackerBacker - January 22, 2015 at 7:48pm

Don't be ridiculous, that is not what he said...lol. Go read the real article on blogs.blackberry.com

Blake - January 22, 2015 at 7:42pm

It's unfortunate that the man complaining happens to be the CEO of Blackberry, but the same could be said of his hold on the government market pre-iOS and Android. There are many applications that are available on both platforms and many the are not, but to force developers to develop on platforms that aren't used by many people is a waste of resources. And unfortunately, BB came late into the game because they didn't want to adapt or couldn't.

stevenlacross - January 22, 2015 at 7:37pm

Forced, no. But if they wanted to open it up to other platforms then great.

Franck Horlaville - January 22, 2015 at 7:35pm

Interesting coming from the company who held closely to BBM for years and only opened it when they were already dead …