Sunil Lalvani, managing director for BlackBerry India, has reportedly spilled the beans on when we can expect to see BBM released for Android. Speaking to IBN Live, Lalvani stated that BlackBerry would launch BBM for Android inside the next two months. BlackBerry had previously said it wanted to roll the
service out during the summer and now it seems that a late-September release is on the cards.
‘The service is coming to Android this summer. But summer as per North America, where it remains till
September,’ said Lalvani.
The exec did not mention whether this date also applied to the iOS version of BBM. BlackBerry confirmed the launch of BBM for Android and iOS at BlackBerry World Live 2013, but it did add that the
Android version, owing to the more open nature of Google’s OS, would likely be a more feature-rich version than its iOS counterpart.
BBM – in case, somehow, you don’t know what it is – is an IM client that allows users to send messages using their handsets web-connection. Think WhatsApp and iMessage, just bigger, better, and older. BBM is the IM app that started it all.
The rise of cross-platform services like WhatsApp as well as BlackBerry’s own diminishing presence in the mobile space during the past couple of years has
forced the company into making one of its only remaining USPs available on competitor platforms.
Whether it’s a branding exercise or merely a money-spinner remains to be seen. BlackBerry’s official line on the matter is that BBM is the best IM client
in the world and everybody – iOS and Android people included – deserve access to it.
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