BBM app from BlackBerry for Android lands Saturday, iOS on Sunday
BlackBerry’s BBM messaging service will be making its long-awaited arrival on Android phones and Apple’s iOS devices this weekend.
Those sporting gadgets running Google’s operating system will get the first stab at it on Saturday 20 September, with the iOS version hitting the Apple App Store on Sunday 21 September. That sees BlackBerry just squeeze into the summer launch window that they had planned, with barely a day to spare.
BBM for iOS and Android will let users chat with BlackBerry owners and each other, while also letting users share files, images, and voice notes. Group chats of up to 30 participants is also supported. BlackBerry says that its BBM Channels feature will be made available on iOS and Android soon after the initial launch.
On Android, the app will be compatible with Android 4.0 and up, while only iOS users running version 6 and above will be able to make use of the service.
Despite this year’s BlackBerry 10 reboot for the company and the launch of a number of critically well-received handsets, BlackBerry has still struggled to make up the ground lost to smartphone rivals Apple and Google with Android.
As such, the company have now begun farming out key software properties to rival mobile platforms, while also potentially considering an outright sale of the company.
