Smartphone maker Blackberry today announced it will provide its popular
chat application BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) on Android operation system
from September 21 and for iPhone users from September 22.
“BBM will be available as a free download for Android smartphones
running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean (Android 4.0 and later
version) beginning at 7 am EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) on September 21.
BBM for iPhones running iOS 6 and iOS 7 will become available for each
market on the App Store schedule of 12:01 am local time on September
22,” BlackBerry said in a statement.
Android users in India will be able to download BBM from their Google
Play Store on their phone from 4.30 pm onwards on same day.
As per market research and analyst firm IDC, over 5 million out of 6.1
million smartphones shipped to India
in January to March 2013 period
were Android phones. Apple’s iPhones constitute a very small number in
Indian smartphone segment.
BBM, the first instant messaging application for phones, now has more
than 60 million monthly active customers on BlackBerry alone, and
majority use BBM an average of 90 minutes per day, the statement said.
BBM customers collectively send and receive more than 10 billion
messages each day, nearly twice as many messages per user per day as
compared to other mobile messaging apps, it added.
Meanwhile, Indian mobile phone company Micromax said mobile messaging
service application will come pre-loaded on new Micromax smartphones
from the first week of October and existing users of its Canvas phones
can download the BBM from the Google Play Store.
“Bringing one of the most popular mobile messaging services with BBM on
our smartphones is yet another effort to expand our bouquet of messaging
services for our consumers to connect and communicate seamlessly with
their loved ones” Micromax CEO Deepak Mehrotra said.