Rumors that the BBM on Android and iOS will be officially released before summer ends has been fueled by Blackberry’s invitations for an international event which the company has already sent out. On Wednesday, the event will finally confirm if the BlackBerry Messenger, more popularly known as BBM, is indeed coming to iPhone and Android devices.
During its annual Blackberry Live conference held in May, the company has announced that it is releasing BBM across several platforms which will enable users to send and receive messages that contain as many as 2,000 characters among BB10 or BlackBerry 10 OS, iPhone and Android devices. The Wednesday invitations indicate that the event is starting at 3 p.m. However, the company hasn’t disclosed yet the time zone that it has referred to in the invitation.
A representative from BlackBerry explained that the company hasn’t officially announced yet the launch date for BBM on iPhone and Android. Those who are interested in the application can likewise sign up at the company’s website. Android users should somehow be careful enough in choosing among the numerous apps in the Google Play store as a lot of fake versions of the BBM app have appeared with the intent of installing malware on users’ devices.
The company had already submitted an iOS version of the BBM app to Apple Inc. which is still waiting for approval since Aug. 23. On the other hand, the company is waiting for the release in the Google Play store of the BBM for Android which, compared with Apple, does not entail a strict approval process.
BlackBerry is said to be attempting to market itself sometime before the month of November following the reality that its handset sales are dwindling. The company is also planning to spin BBM off in its separate division and come up with a PC version of BBM. The free app is slated to face competition with other popular cross-platform messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Kik Messenger, and Facebook Messenger.
