How LiveProfile Netted a Million Users in Five Days

Cross-platform messaging app LiveProfile recently shot to the top of the App Store charts, adding 1 million users in just five days, doubling its total user pool and taking down its servers. So how did an app that's been around since October for Android (GOOG), and since January for iPhone (AAPL), suddenly achieve such massive success?

The answer might surprise you, especially if you're following the falling star of RIM (RIMM), at least as it's generally depicted in the press. The surge in users is because LiveProfile just introduced a BlackBerry version of its messaging client on Mar. 25. The client offers instant messaging with status updates, message delivery confirmation, and photo/video messaging. LiveProfile's chief executive, Phil Karl, said in an e-mail interview that he thinks LiveProfile's success has a lot to do with the product's advantages over SMS and its "unique feature set and beautiful interface," along with the fact that LiveProfile "is much more than just a messenger," with planned additions to social network features in the pipeline. But Karl also acknowledges that the recent addition of BlackBerry no doubt prompted "rapid growth on all platforms." BlackBerry and Android are currently the fastest-growing platforms for LiveProfile, though the iPhone is "not far behind."