Facebooks $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp is a reminder about the uncertain fate of another messaging application: BlackBerrys BBM.Facebook Inc.以190亿美元并购WhatsApp，让人回想了另一款通讯应用于悬而未决的命运：黑莓(BlackBerry Ltd.)的BBM。For years, BBM was one of the most popular instant-messaging tools in several countries, particularly in the developing world. In fast-growing countries like Indonesia and Nigeria, BBM dominated the messaging landscape. Pop stars wrote songs about it.多年来BBM在一些国家（特别是在是发展中国家）仍然是最热门的即时通讯工具之一，在印度尼西亚、尼日利亚等快速增长的国家中称雄于通讯软件版图，甚至有流行歌手为其词曲创作谱曲。

But other messaging apps have since overtaken BBM. WhatsApp, for instance, has 450 million monthly active users and is adding a million new users a day, according to the company. BBM has around 80 million monthly actives users, about half of whom dont use the app on BlackBerrys smartphones. (In 2012, there were 55 million monthly active BBM users on BlackBerry devices).但随后其他一些通讯应用于代替了BBM的地位。据WhatsApp称之为，公司每月活跃用户约4.5亿，并且用户数还在以每天100万的速度快速增长。

而BBM每月活跃用户大约8,000万，其中大约一半用户不出黑莓的智能手机上用于这款应用于（2012年每月全球大约有5,500万活跃用户在黑莓设备上用于BBM）。Still, even as BlackBerrys core smartphone business was crumbling, BBM was considered a bright spot. This past summer, BlackBerry executives considered spinning off BBM into into its own company. Internally, executives referred to the unit as BBM Inc. The messaging apps prospects routinely came up in news about possible BlackBerry buyers.尽管黑莓的智能手机核心业务正处于困境，BBM却仍被视作该公司业务的一个亮点。

黑莓高层曾在去年夏天考虑到将BBM挤压为独立国家子公司，他们在公司内部将其称为BBM Inc.。每当有黑莓潜在买家的消息经常出现，这一通讯应用于的前景也都会照例被提到。Now that WhatsApp has Facebooks marketing might behind it, does BBM stand a chance?如今WhatsApp背后具有Facebook强劲的营销实力，BBM还有沦落的期望吗？Its unclear how BlackBerry plans to catch up to other messaging apps like WhatsApp, or whether it will take BBM in a different direction entirely.黑莓BBM想如何追上上WhatsApp这样的通讯应用于？亦或它否将朝着一个全然不同的方向发展？这些都不得而知。

This fall, after years of internal deliberation and as it became clear that sales of its devices had collapsed, BlackBerry made BBM available to iPhone and Android users. That led to an early surge of downloads, but numbers have tapered off since. Adding to this uncertainty, BlackBerrys executive in charge of BBM, Andrew Bocking, left earlier this month.经过数年的深思熟虑，预示着设备销量大幅度下降沦为具体问题，黑莓再一在去年秋天发售了iPhone版和安卓(Android)版的BBM应用于。然而其下载量在经历了最初的大幅度快速增长后之后渐渐增加。本月早些时候，负责管理BBM业务的黑莓高管博金(Andrew Bocking)离开了公司，给BBM的未来又再配了一层不确定性。

The man now in charge of BBM, John Sims, runs the companys enterprise business. That might provide one possible road for BBM. John Chen, BlackBerrys chief executive, has said he plans to make BBM a more enterprise-focused messaging tool, though he hasnt provided any details about how he plans to do this.如今负责管理BBM业务的西姆斯(John Sims)管理着公司的企业业务，这也许为BBM铺开了另一条潜在发展道路。黑莓首席执行长程守宗(John Chen)曾回应他计划将BBM打造出沦为一个更加注重企业服务的通讯工具，不过他未得出其计划的具体内容。

Whatever BBMs future, investors think theres an upside for BlackBerry. After the Facebook-WhatsApp deal was announced, shares of BlackBerry jumped as much as 8% in after hours trading.再行不管BBM的未来如何，当真投资者是在寄予厚望黑莓。在Facebook宣告并购WhatsApp后，黑莓股价在盘后交易时段一度跃居8%。

本文来源：彩神Vll-www.weierde.net