BBM won't launch for iOS or Android come June 27, says BlackBerry, despite a T-Mobile U.K. tweet early Thursday revealing that date. There's a report spreading around today that BBM is coming to iPhones and Android devices on June 27.
“Recalibrate your excitement levels” , says BlackBerry, the release date given for its long-awaited version of BBM for iOS and Android is wrong . According to a source with knowledge of BlackBerry's plans, the June 27 launch date for BBM on Android and iPhone is not correct. In fact, our source called all those stories you may have read "bogus .
"While there have been reports that BBM will be available to iOS and Android on June 27th, this is not accurate," the Z10-maker said. "We will communicate an update as soon as we have an availability date to share” . In an apologetic tweet, T-Mobile said, "sorry folks, we got over-excited about the BBM app coming to Android/iOS. No specific availability date yet.”
The app, which is going to be free, will let you chat across platforms to your pals who also use BBM. The service will compete with popular messaging apps like WhatsApp and Viber. BBM which has more than 60 million active monthly users will allow users to chat for free between different mobile platforms shoppers are still interested in the firm's phones when the app is available else where .
BBM has traditionally been one of BlackBerry's killer features . On May 14th, BlackBerry announced plans to make its ground-breaking mobile social network, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), available to iOS and Android users this summer, subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play. While there have been reports that BBM will be available to iOS and Android on June 27th, this is not accurate.
BlackBerry Messenger has been widely lauded as a solid and secure messaging system, and it was a point of pride for the company during its heyday.
BBM, when it debuts on Apple's platform, will go up against not only Apple's iMessage service, which reproduces many of BBM's features as well as its security, but also third-party apps like WhatsApp. Also the social network Facebook has been pushing its Facebook Messenger service on both Android and iOS. BBM on other platforms will initially offer just messaging but BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said in the service’s announcement that they’ll be adding more features over time, including screen sharing, BBM voice and the new BBM Channels. Making BBM an independent product is a dramatic, bold step for the company, given that it is often cited as a key competitive advantage that BlackBerry still maintains over its rivals, but the company is clearly keen to look at survival strategies that go beyond making a comeback as a smartphone maker.
BBM isn't the only fish in the sea anymore, however, as there is now an amazing bounty of mobile messaging platforms to choose from on iOS, Android and even BlackBerry that offer similar functionality. It’s easy to see BBM launching on iOS and Android as giving license to disaffected users to leave for what they perceive as greener pastures, while taking their network and social contacts with them.
Still, this is a calculated risk, and BlackBerry must see a very clear and present upside to opening up its platform beyond BB OS. It definitely has the network volume, which is generally the goal of pre-monetization start ups launching similar products, so we’ll see where it takes things from here. We’ve reached out to BlackBerry for direct confirmation, and will update this story if we hear back with more information.
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