BlackBerry has announced today that its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) will be arriving on Android this summer as a free standalone app. The messenger is going cross-platform and will also be released on iOS.
BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins revealed at BBLive that BBM currently has over 60 million users, who send more than 10 billion messages every day. The release on Android will surely increase these numbers many fold.
“It’s time to bring BBM to a greater audience no matter what mobile device they carry,” said BB CEO Thorsten Heins. “We’re starting with messaging and groups, but we’ll bring voice, screen share, and of course, channels later on,” he added.
This is certainly a huge milestone for the company as BBM has always been an integral part of the Blackberry experience and has worked as the USP for many consumers.
The BBM Android app will be free and work on any Android device with Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) or above on-board.
In the first version of BBM, you can expect to see the following BBM features:
BBM chats
Multi-person chats
Voice note sharing
BlackBerry Groups, where BBM users are able to set up groups of up to 30 people and share calendar, photos, files and more
“For BlackBerry, messaging and collaboration are inseparable from the mobile experience, and the time is definitely right for BBM to become a multi-platform mobile service. BBM has always been one of the most engaging services for BlackBerry customers, enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy. We’re excited to offer iOS and Android users the possibility to join the BBM community,” said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President, Software Product Management and Ecosystem, BlackBerry.
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