Whatsapp vs BBM

Since the era of mankind exists, there exists - "Battle of sexes" and it famously brought up line - men are from mars, women from venus and since the time smartphones have come into existence, it has made way for a new battle cutting across countries, generations and smartphones.


In the world of of instant messaging, which is no less than oxygen to smartphone users, it is famously called - Whatsapp vs BBM. The war has become intense than ever coutrsey BBM being introduced to Android and iOS (Read More - BBM moves to Android and iOS)

No matter where i go, whoever i talk to,  this debate doesnt seem to end, so i decided to find out which is better on broadly three counts - Reach, Cost and Features.

Before i reach down to technical aspects, will share with you few of the reactions that i got when i went down asking my friends the same question - Whatsapp or BBM? and this is what they had to say -

"Buying a BB is like getting your first job in MNC - the one's outside are eager to get in and the one's in feel helpless."

"Whatsapp is like a middle class app, BBM is like high class"

"Buying BB just for BBM is like marrying just for sex, that too paid"

"BBM is the worst thing that happened to us Indians, because our breed speaclizes in invading provacy !!! Random people start to ask for pin before number, thats when i started collecting funds for S3 and in India, BBM means .. teen sau rupay mein jitni marzi bakwass!!! "

and on .. and on ...  Now, lets get down some more so logical stuff -

Reach

Fellow blogger, Jasmeet Kukreja, author of - Emotestar, says - Do i even need to say who win this segment hands on, spreading cross almost every OS working globally - Whatsapp caters to every smartphone user where as BBM satisfies just the "we are the BB boys" (and girls) paid need.

Also, she adds - whatsapp came after BBM, hence to be fair to BBM it is very evident that whatsapp has tried to imitate BBM on counter platforms with advanced features.



Cost
Whatsapp comes with one year free usage and then it charges $1 (Rs 55-56) every year for the app thing, the better part is it runs on your normal data plans, no extra cost like BBM where u have to incurr additional cost to get BB services, i know there lies an option to choose just BBM plan but it still calls for a high additional cost.

Features
When i go about asking people who use BB - whats the difference between using BBM and Whatsapp and the most common answer i have contend with is "there's something about BBM thats not about whatsapp" and till date that "something" hasnt found a name :P. What i think is, its the feeling of paying extra bucks for something whose rival is for free :P

Also, Whatsapp scans your contacts using whatsapp automatically and you don't need to manually add again which saves the effort of adding your friends again but it has a flip side too, you can filter the people you want on BBM.

Where BBM scores over Whatsapp is - it is slightly faster than whatsapp anyday. Also, whatsapp might skip to send your text once in a blue moon, BBM is cent percent efficient and hard working. 

BBM is like wife, it runs with you until you don't turn off your BB whereas Whatsapp is like your space giving girlfriend, you can choose to stay away and stay close ;)

Before i conclude, one significant consideration that didnt't want to miss is, in country like India where smartphone users feel pride in changing phone every year, in case of a BB they will have to circulate their BBM Pin again and gather contacts again which is not the case with whatsapp. You change your handset more often than your number.


No matter what i conclude, this epic battle shall never die down. The BB boys will always believe BBM wins  come what may and more so greater smartphone audience including apple users would stay with whatsapp happy happy :)