I love BB Messenger, but one of the problems is that since it uses PIN messaging it is tied to your device. One of the side effects of this is that if you change Blackberrys, your PIN changes, and all of your contacts will now have two of you on their BB Messenger buddy list. Aside from being annoying for your friends, you can also end up missing messages if your buddies send a message to the wrong version of you (ie your old Blackberry). To avoid this do the following:

1) Ensure you have a full backup of your old device, or at least an advanced backup of the "Blackberry Messenger" contact store.
2) Before you restore to your new device, and with your SIM card in your old device (or ESN still associated in the case of CDMA) go into Blackberry Messenger and delete all of your buddies.... This will send a command over the air to all your buddies that will remove you (what will soon be the old version of you) from their BB Messenger list.
3) Switch your SIM into your new (or change the ESN on the account) Blackberry and restore your "Blackberry Messenger" content store. You will now notice that you have all your contacts back. When you first send them a message you (the new you) will automatically appear on their contact list without having to send them an invitation. Pretty sure also that if you change your name in "Edit my Info" to anything, then change it back, the updating command will also make you reappear in their contact list.

Thanks for the input!

I had a similar situation however the user wanted 2 BB's active simultaneously and to transfer their info to the new device. After using the Device Switch Wizard in Desktop 4.3 I soon found out that the new BB sent it's PIN to all the Blackberry Messenger contacts automatically, leaving the original unit unable to receive messages. I had to delete all contacts in the BB MSGR list on the new device. This sent an update to the BB's on the user's list to delete them. Then I went to the old device, changed the user's name, waited for the info to be sent to the buddy list, then changed it back to the original.

Seems like all contacts were updated and all was fixed.

I'm trying to restore my BB Messenger database to the phone, but it's grayed out... any ideas on how to get past that?

I'm actually trying to restore a number of things from a backup, but most of the things i would like to restore are grayed out.

Thanks!