Blackberry Announces BBM For Android & iOS

On Monday Blackberry announced during their 2013 BlackBerry Live keynote address that they will finally be releasing BBM for Android & iOS this summer.

Up until now, the popular BBM service has only been available to BlackBerry users. The existing app allows users to bypass calling, text-message and data charges by communicating using text, photos, videos, and voice via WiFi and the Blackberry network.

This is a similar model to other popular cross-platform communication apps such as WhatsApp. By offering this app as a cross-platform service, users of almost all types of smartphones will be able to seamlessly communicate with each other.

“We're committed to making the BBM experience on other platforms as fully featured as we can, we'll start with messaging and groups, but we'll add voice and screen share later on. … BB10 is such a strong platform that we are confident it can become an independent messaging solution.”
-BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins

The new BBM for Android and iOS apps will be just that, only for those platforms. Heins didn’t allude to anything swathed in the Windows logo. It also looks as though the new BBM for Android and iOS apps will only support recent versions of the operating systems (sorry Gingerbread users).

With established names like WhatsApp already in the marketplace, is this yet another example of Blackberry being late to the party? Or will the name “Blackberry” be enough to tempt users into giving it a try? Why not tell us what you think below…