It was just announced by the BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins that BBM will soon be available on Android and iOS. The new message app by the company is set to be launched in the summer of 2013. The upcoming move by BlackBerry will be a remarkable one, as it will bring BB10’s strongest feature to about hundreds of millions of potential users.
Heins said, “The BB10 platform is so strong and the response has been so good that the time is right for BBM to become an independent mobile messaging platform.” The application will be free on Android as well as iOS and much like any other messaging apps, will be a standalone application.
It will also require iOS 6 or Ice Cream Sandwich. During the initial stages, only messaging and group features will be available, but Heins has promised that the rest of the BBM will gradually make its way to the Android and iOS versions, including screen sharing, BBM channels and BBM voice.
Heins even stated that they are making the BBM platform even more powerful. This move by the company is considered as very uncharacteristic, but it is hard to argue against Hein’s statement. All these changes point out to BlackBerry finally waking up.
