Kik Messenger: Finally, BBM for All Mobile Platforms

Ask any non-BlackBerry smartphone user what features they want the most, and we're sure BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) will be somewhere near the top of the list. BBM, RIM's PIN-based instant-message service made solely for its BlackBerry handsets, has become one of, if not the main selling points for the BlackBerry platform. Ted Livingston realized this while working on the BBM team. Two years ago, he chucked the deuces and left to give the masses what they wanted. The resulting service is called Kik, a new instant-messaging service modeled after BBM. Kik works on the three major smartphone platforms—BlackBerry, iPhone, and Android—and has recently blown the hell up, going from 450,000 users in 10 days to 1.5 million global users in less than a month. It's getting to be kind of a big deal. We downloaded the app and played around with it to see if it was worthy of all the attention it was getting. Check our observations below. And, in case you were wondering: Yes, it's worth it.

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