BlackBerry has relaunched its BBM messaging app's
new iPhone and Android
versions, a month after pent-up demand forced the company to cancel their
original launch.
BBM is now available to download from Apple's
App Store, Android's Google Play store and some countries' Samsung App Stores,
but BlackBerry is using a virtual "line-up system" to stagger access
to the new app.
It's asking people to
download BBM and register their email addresses, then wait for an email to
notify them that they can use the app. The 6m people who signed up for
information on the BBM website before the original launch in September get immediate
access, however.
"If you didn't sign up in advance, don't worry – we
are focused on moving millions of customers through the line as fast as
possible," wrote BlackBerry's head of BBM Andrew Bocking in a blog post explaining the steps
the company is taking to ensure a "smooth roll out" for the apps.
"Our team of
developers and engineers has been working around the clock to bring you BBM
– and make some upgrades while we're at it – and some incredible work has
been done."
BlackBerry originally planned to launch BBM for Android on 21
September and BBM for iPhone on 22 September, but a version of the Android app leaked early,
and was quickly downloaded by more than 1m people.
BlackBerry said that the
unreleased app "resulted in volumes of data traffic orders of magnitude
higher than normal for each active user and impacted the system in abnormal
ways", forcing the company to cancel the planned launch.
BBM's rollout beyond BlackBerry smartphones is an important moment for the
company, as it battles competition from other instant messaging apps including
WhatsApp, Kik Messenger, WeChat, Line and KakaoTalk.
As a BlackBerry-only
service, BBM has 60m users, but being available on iOS and Android has helped
WhatsApp grow to more than 300m users.
Source: Telegraph
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