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BBM will be coming to the two largest mobile platforms, Android and iOS and will be available with most features from BB10 added on; not just a basic IM client, showing BlackBerry’s new commitment to other platforms.
The Google Play store will get BBM on September 21, followed by an iOS Apps Store launch on September 22. This news was leaked yesterday, showing Indonesian invites to grab BBM on the new platforms and has been verified by multiple sources prior to the announcement.
Android has been littered with fake BBM clients for the past few months, with some grabbing more than 10,000 users before getting blocked out of the ecosystem, showing the potential BBM has on the new operating system, despite not many people remembering the good old days with BlackBerry.
BBM will still have the PIN number instead of adding an email address or phone number, something BlackBerry has been able to use to their advantage, keeping some people tied to the social messaging platform and thus tied to BlackBerry.
BlackBerry has also added group chats with up to 30 friends, social statuses, profiles and classical BBM chat. We believe both apps will fit into the guidelines set and we may see an iOS7 version for iPhone and iPad users.
According to some rumors, BlackBerry is looking to stretch out their BBM client into its own business, becoming a subsidiary of BlackBerry. This move would allow BlackBerry to finance their other projects through BBM, especially if it makes enough money to become a traded company on the stock market.
Eventually if BlackBerry hits bankruptcy or fails to gain any traction, they could sell off BBM’s staff and services to another company. This may be a short term solution, but selling their best service would not make them more profitable in the long term.
