The BBM has been one of BlackBerry
OS most popular features, years before
there was iMessaging, Viber, or
WhatsApp. Today, at the company's annual
Blackberry Live 2013 conference, CEO
Thorsten Heins announced that this
summer they will make the trademark
BlackBerry messaging service available as
a third-party app to the two most
popular smart platforms - iOS and
Android.
Initially, the BlackBerry Messenger or
BBM, as it's more commonly known, will
only support BBM chats, multi-person
chats, voice note sharing, and BlackBerry
Groups, where BBM users are able to
set up groups to share calendar, photos,
files, etc.
However, as Heins stated on stage, they
have plans of making BBM as fully
featured on those other platforms as
possible. BlackBerry has plans to expand
the functionality of the iOS and Android
apps with some of the new BBM
features such as Voice and video calls,
Screenshare, and the just announced
Channels. These will come as subsequent
updates.
BBM Channels is a new way for BBM
users to connect with the businesses,
brands, celebrities and groups they are
passionate about.
The BBM will be available to iPhones,
running at least iOS 6.0, and to droids,
running at least Android Ice Cream
Sandwich.