A day after
announcing its new smartphone Blackberry Z30, Blackberry limited has announced
that its highly awaited messaging app will be coming to the two platforms this
weekend.
Blackberry
has revealed in a statement that the Blackberry Messenger will be available on
the Google Play store on Saturday for Android users and on the Apple store a
day later for iPhone users.
The app will
be available for Android 4.0 users and higher and for iOS 6 and iOS 7 users.
The application will be available on both stores free of charge.
“BBM is a
very engaging messaging service that is simple to use, easy to personalize and
has an immediacy that is necessary for mobile communications.” Blackberry’s BBM
Executive Vice President, Andrew Bocking, said.
With this
move, Blackberry is trying to make its messenger app more popular in the
messaging industry which has grown competitive over the years with apps like
WhatsApp, iMessage, WeChat, etc.
Bocking
revealed BBM is entering the market because it wants to be the overall leader
in the messaging industry.
“With more
than a billion Android, iOS, and Blackberry smartphones in the market, and no
dominant mobile messaging platform, this is absolutely the right time to bring
BBM to Android and iPhone customers.” he said.
The app will
allow users their own pins which will allow connection with other BBM users
without exposing their phone numbers or email.
It possesses
features like group conversation, sharing files with another user and seeing
when a recipient has read a message. It is expected that more features will be
coming to the app in few months to come.
This may
likely reduce the sales of Blackberry devices as this was one of the exclusive
features of the smartphones. Blackberry is still waiting to be bought as
rumours have mounted that it is looking to lay off 40% of its staff very soon.
Posts
BBM to be available for download on iOS and Android this weekend