Rivals get Blackberry’s BBM messaging

Blackberry announced last week that BBM would be available as a free download for Apple and Android devices but not for Windows phones. Sellers of Blackberry in Abuja were apprehensive of this development at the weekend as many of them believed it would affect the sale of the device. Afis Taiwo, a phone seller at Abuja’s […]

Blackberry announced last week that BBM would be available as a free download for Apple and Android devices but not for Windows phones.
 Sellers of Blackberry in Abuja were apprehensive of this development at the weekend as many of them believed it would affect the sale of the device.
Afis Taiwo, a phone seller at Abuja’s Banex Plaza believes that what makes most Nigerians buy BB is its messaging service and “giving that out to other brand devices means people may not but buy BB”.
But widening the appeal of BBM could be a clever way for the company to reinvent itself, said experts.
“Blackberry is having a tough time, sales are down, it is losing market to Windows phones and it needs to do something to stop the rot. This is as good a move as any,” said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group Europe.
“Offering it across other platforms broadens the appeal of BBM,” he added.
BBM is now available for Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean while iPhones running iOS 6 or iOS 7 can also download it. It was available for Android on Saturday and for iOS yesterday.
“With more than a billion Android, iOS and Blackberry smartphones in the market, and no dominant mobile messaging platform this is absolutely the right time to bring BBM to Android and iPhone customers,” said Andrew Bocking, vice-president for BBM in a blogpost last week.
Blackberry chief executive Thorsten Heins had revealed the plan at the company’s annual developers conference in May.
At the time, Mr Heins said that the move was a “statement of confidence” and would allow Blackberry Messenger to “become an independent multi-platform messaging solution”.