After a couple of untrue begins, the authorized issue dates for the iOS and Android BBM apps have eventually been announced. BlackBerry's messaging service will be available to Android users from noon on Saturday 21 September and will roll out to iPhone users on Sunday 22 September.
BlackBerry broadcast at its developer's seminar in May that it's messaging service would be going cross-platform, but since then has kept fairly calm on the subject. In June, a T-Mobile UK tweet incorrectly broadcast the issue date as 27 June, and was then rapidly deleted. Since then, forgery BBM apps have emerged in the Google Play shop, which is not as rigorously policed as Apple's App shop.
BlackBerry's OTT messaging service was the first of its kind to gain real traction amidst users, pursued swiftly by Apple's iMessage. More lately however, services such as WhatsApp and Viber, which work over multiple functioning schemes, have become increasingly well liked. With no one service completely overriding the space though, there's still everything to play for and the appearance of BBM on iOS and Android is not necessarily too late to make an influence.
Samsung Nigeria broadcast on Twitter that the service would primarily be exclusive to Samsung telephone users, but a BlackBerry spokesperson has refuted this.
Like numerous of its ilk, BBM boasts assembly dialogues and file transfers, but its main advantage is that users need to exchange unique PIN numbers rather than teletelephone numbers or internet message locations to be able to brief talk to one another. Admittedly, this is rather fiddly, but it does defend the privacy of users to an span.
BBM is one of BlackBerry's most well liked goods, and remains for numerous the primary affinity of its phones, which up until now it was completely exclusive to. Its new cross-platform rank could thus represent a farther risk to currently declining teletelephone sales, although it's considered by many that the company is expected to finally aim solely on the programs side of its enterprise.
Earlier this week the partition road periodical reported that the business was organising to lay off up to 40 per hundred of its employees. describing progressively poor financial results over the last couple of quarters, BlackBerry's future remains unsure for now, but the BBM app issues have been much anticipated, and could eventually be a step in the right direction for the ailing company.
