BlackBerry Messenger coming to iPhone?

What I would suggest is entering an OLD PIN/IMEI of a BB that you once paid for. Why? Because they at least get paid for that BB, and that old PIN can be used for the iPhone.

If not, I'd pay up to $50 for a fully functional BBM on iPhone.

amazing..

sounds like dessert...

I hope that this never happens. I hate BBM and I dont' understand the functionality at all. The only great thing about it that I can see is group chat, but we already have so many great group chat apps like Beluga (for who knows how much longer) and Groupme. I just got my girlfriend off of BBM and her beloved blackberry, I really hope that she doesn't fall back into it, because she will bug me to no end to get on BBM as well.

Not being a BB owner or user, can someone tell me what's so great about BBM? Other than "all my friends are on there"?

Prediction:

IF, and that's a big if, RIM releases BBM for the iPhone/Android, I guarantee it will be a paid app at the least, but my guess would be a subscription-based service.

For me: Will not pay!

I don't see any reason that Apple wouldn't approve this - it would be another impediment removed from enterprise adoption of iPhones.

It seems iffier from RIM's point of view (since it would impact sale of their hardware). However, their view could be that if it increases use of (or stickiness of) BBM in enterprises whose users want to migrate to other platforms, then it helps ensure the long(er) term penetration of BBM in those enterprises. I can't see them doing this without adding some fee (for the app, per message, or monthly subscription, say) though - there will certainly be those current BB users who are attached to the BB hardware (keyboard, etc.) or other BB apps, but it would cannibalize at least some amount of BB hardware sales and that would need to be made up somehow.

Whatsapp and Skype own this space now as far as I can see. Here in the UK we can't get Skype for Blackberry, as they've done a deal with Verizon to make it exclusive to them - and only in the USA for Blackberry.

We have Android, iPhone and Blackberries now all running Whatsapp for instant messaging and just use email for everything else. On the desktop space we use Skype for video, audio and IM chat. We've consigned MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo!, GTalk, etc. to the bin.

When my BB Pearl died last fall, BBM was the one thing I had a tough time giving up when I to the iPhone 4. I'd love to see it back, but RIM would be giving up a good reason for people to stick with their BBs.

A non-techie friend of mine recently bought a new BB solely because of BBM!

The Kik app was originally available on both iOS, Android and Blackberry. It worked great between the 3 platforms. However, 1 month after its release, RIM sued Kik claiming "RIM concluded that Kik had breached contractual obligations". RIM then pulled the app from their store and also disabled it on all Blackberries.
http://gigaom.com/2010/11/23/rim-pulls-the-plug-on-messaging-upstart-kik/

What is interesting is that the developer of Kik had developed other apps for the Blackberry that RIM showcased so there was a pre-existing relationship. This is probably why RIM sued them since they might have used some disallowed code, API or other patented RIM technology to get the app to work.
Maybe RIM has settled with Kik and has decided to roll out the app themselves, thereby maintaining the BBM branding. It was probably cheaper to make an agreement with Kik then trying to develop their own cross platform BBM app.