BBM for Android and iPhone which has been in the news is finally going to arrive very soon. Rumors have it that the release date for BBM for Android and iPhone is all set to September 18. It is heard that BlackBerry is organizing an international launch event that is to be held this Wednesday.
It was in the month of May during the BlackBerry Live event which is held annually that BBM will be made available for different platforms like Android and iOS. The BBM app will support Android smartphones, iPhones and BlackBerry devices that run on BB10 OS. The event is going to start around 3pm on this Wednesday.
When BlackBerry was asked the release date of BBM, they claimed that the official release date of the app has not been announced yet. They also mentioned that interested individuals can sign up on BlackBerry’s website.
By the way, in Google Play Store, you can find plenty of apps that are described as BBM app for Android. Since the official app has not been launched yet, definitely those apps that are dubbed as BBM app are fake. You should not install such fake on your Android phones as it can allow malware to get inside your device and infect it.
An insider has revealed that BlackBerry has already submitted an iOS variant of BBM to Apple. The app was given to the Cupertino firm on Aug 24. From this we can understand that, the BBM app for iOS has already come two weeks ago to Apple but they have not approved it yet. On the other hand, BlackBerry does not need to go through a stringent procedure to get its app approved for Android. They only need to make the app available on Google Play Store. However, now BlackBerry is waiting to get the app approved by Apple. Once it is done, the app will come to Android as well.
Those who have tried the beta version of the new BBM app say that the app has designed quite similar to the BlackBerry 10 version. Another rumor about BlackBerry is that the firm is planning to sell itself. The acquisition might happen before November. The reason behind the acquisition is that the company is failing to achieve good sales. The company is also planning to launch a desktop version of the BBM app in the near future.
The reason behind launching BBM app for Android and iOS devices is that BlackBerry is making an effort to encourage users who have switched to Android phones or iPhone to use the app and get the feel of their new BB10 OS. The popularity of the firm and its new handsets are dwindling pretty quickly. However, the BBM app’s popularity has been consistent. This may be the reason why the company wants to continue with the BBM app production as a separate division after the acquisition takes place.
Sending and receives texts on BBM will happen through data plan. However, you will be able to send more text messages at less price as compared to a traditional SMS. Also, the character limit on BBM for writing text is 200-characters. The BBM app will compete with the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.