With mixed feelings among college students about the updated iPhone operating system, some UF students are now turning to the BlackBerry Messenger app as an alternative.
Blackberry released BBM in the App Store and Google Play last week. In the first 24 hours, BBM was downloaded more than 10 million times, according to a news release.
“I guess people want to revive something dead or do something new,” said Amanda Camejo, an 18-year-old journalism freshman.
Camejo has a BlackBerry and said the app is more popular with iPhone users than with the BlackBerry users she knows.
“It’s just another way for people with iPhones to communicate with other people with iPhones,” she said. “People are always looking for the new social media or the new way to communicate.”
Vicki DeJaco, a 20-year-old UF psychology junior, said she downloaded the new app because she remembered it from “back when BlackBerries were popular.”
DeJaco, who has an iPhone, said she likes the app because she finds it easier to send media, and she likes to see when her messages have been read.
But she said she doesn’t know many other people who have the app.
“It’s kind of pointless right now,” she said.
A version of this story ran on page 4 on 10/30/2013 under the headline "BlackBerry Messenger comes back"
