Oh, shit. As was rumored earlier today, Apple just announced what could be the death blow to Blackberry: iMessage, a way to securely message between iDevices.
“Our customers have been asking us for a new messaging solution. We’re launching a service that works for all iOS 5 customers. We call it iMessage. It supports iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch,” says Scott Forstall.
You can use it to send text, photos, videos or contacts, even group messages.
We’ve added delivery receipts, and optional read receipts. Typing notifications, so you can see if someone is typing. Pushed to all of your devices, so you can pick up where you left off,” explains Forstall.
Even better, it happens on 3G and WiFi.
This is a serious wake up call to RIM. Their last great advantage just flew out the window: BlackBerry Messaging is unique no longer. Time to evolve or die.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
