BlackBerry’s BBM coming to Android & Apple

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) app is to be offered to Android and iPhone users as a download this summer.

09:35 16 May 2013

Blackberry chief executive Thorstein Heins has confirmed that Blackberry’s messenger or BBM will be offered as a download to Android and iPhone users starting this summer for free.

The confirmation came as a surprise at his firm’s annual developers conference in Orlando, Florida.

Blackberry’s initial offer to other platforms includes texts, photo messages, and group sharing functions.

Later this year, the company confirmed, it will roll out screen sharing, voice, and video calls. This move, as other analysts anticipate, will lead to clash with WhatsApp, Viber, and other similar apps.

Talking about the move, Mr Hein’s said it is a statement of confidence: He said: “You might ask the question why is Blackberry doing this now. It's a statement of confidence.

“The Blackberry 10 platform is so strong and the response has been so good that we are confident the time is right for Blackberry Messenger to become an independent multiplatform messaging solution.”

Blackberry also unveiled their newest smartphone, Q5 which is powered by its BB10 system. Mr Heins describes it as “sleek, slim high-performance device”.