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.
Last week it emerged that
micro-blogging site Twitter is also planning to launch a standalone
direct-messaging application to
rival popular apps such as WhatsApp and BBM.
The move is part of a
broader revamp of Twitter's direct-messaging product, which also includes the
addition of a new setting that allows users to send and receive direct messages
from others without needing to mutually follow one another, according to AllThingsD
Source:Telegraph
Source:Telegraph
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