BlackBerry re-launched the Android and iOS apps yesterday, after problems with a rogue version of the Android app forced BlackBerry to suspend the rollout for almost a month. Despite this initial huccup, however, BlackBerry claims that yesterday was one of the best single-day openings for a mobile app ever. BBM quickly rose through the rankings on the App Store to become the number one free app in more than 75 countries in the first 24 hours, including the US, Canada, the UK, Indonesia and most of the Middle East, according to BlackBerry.
User ratings in both the App Store and Google Play are also overwhelmingly positive, earning BBM 60,000 five-star reviews on Google Play from about 87,000 reviews. “The mobile messaging market is full of opportunity for BBM,” said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President, BBM at BlackBerry. "We intend to be the leading private social network for everyone who needs the immediate communication and collaboration of instant messaging combined with the privacy, control and reliability delivered through BBM."
Previously exclusive to BlackBerry smartphones, BBM is now available as a free download in Google Play and the App Store. Android smartphones must be running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean (Android 4.x) and iPhones must be running iOS 6 and iOS 7. Customers can download BBM by visiting www.BBM.com from their smartphone browser.
Android and iPhone users who download the BBM app will be able to carry out both one-on-one and group text chats, and share files such as photos and voice notes instantly. They will also be able to send a message to all of their BBM contacts in one go using the 'Broadcast Message' function.
BBM is widely perceived as BlackBerry’s most valuable asset aside from its corporate email, BlackBerry Enterprise Server. However, its 60m users are already dwarved by the 200m people who use the WhatsApp service, which currently works across platforms, and has replaced text messages for many of its young users.
Source: The Telegraph
