This is interesting. I think they had to do it because the usefulness of the app is pretty low when the amount of people using blackberry is low.(no one to talk to) But I have a hard time believing that people will switch to this from whatever they were using before( imessage, facebook chat, ect)
It was talked about 5 years ago. The blackberry message system, putting it on other systems.. Had they done it then it could have been a big thing. Now?? Pfffttt...
Well, we'll see. For sure it will be an uphill swim for BBRY. The Blackberry is doomed crowd may be right, wouldn't be the first time a product has failed in spite of its merits.
The current smartphone target market seems to be mostly kids, they often just automatically regard newer as better.
DOD decisions are driven partly by the zeitgeist (been waiting years to use that word ) and largely by the urgings of legislators to throw money at their favorite contractor. The US DOD has a history of rather dismal security decisions.
I'm convinced, personally, that when Blackberry Messenger plunges in to the much wider market, there will be many more folks who target it for hacking. Some will be serious thiefs, some will be just for fun, to see if it can be done. That's not based on any knowledge of coding methods, I obviously have none, just a sort of a big picture intuition.