After months of teasing, BlackBerry has finally confirmed for us when we can download its BBM app on other platforms.
Breaking the app tradition, the Android version will actually arrive ahead of the iPhone app, on September 21st. iPhone fans won’t have long to wait before getting their cross-platform BBM on though, as the iOS app drops the very next day on September 22nd.
The company revealed earlier in the year that it would be bringing BBM, one of the key selling points of the BlackBerry smartphone, to rival platforms Android and iPhone. This move will put the popular chat app in contention with the likes of Whatsapp and Viber, both of which have enjoyed roaring success on most smartphone platforms.
BlackBerry revealed the news earlier today via Twitter after leaving us on tenterhooks for weeks:
“That’s right BBM fans – the iconic mobile social network will begin rolling out for Android and iPhone customers around the world … As you may know BBM was previously exclusive to BlackBerry smartphones, and it will be available as a free download in Google Play and the App Store.”
Not so far back there was talk of Samsung scoring an exclusive deal that would bring BBM to the Samsung App Store for its Galaxy smartphones, but it looks as though Android users around the world will be able to get downloading in a few days’ time.
On both Android and iPhone the app will offer single and group chat options – the latter allowing for up to 30 people in a single group chat – as well as file sharing.
After keeping BBM to itself for all these years, BlackBerry has decided to share in a time when the brand is falling behind the likes of Android and Apple. Still, some 60 million people use BBM, with over 10 billion messages going through the system every single day.
So you’re sold and can’t wait to download the app so you can chat to your mates who use BlackBerry phones. You’ll need to make sure that your phone is running Android 4.0 or above, or iOS 6 and above if you’re an iPhone user, with the apps launching through the Play Store and App Store respectively as free downloads.