BlackBerry has announced that its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is out of closed beta and is now available for Windows Phone users.
BBM is one of the most well-known messaging services in the mobile handset industry. Previously, BBM was available only for BlackBerry devices but in Sept. 2013, the Canadian company released the messaging services to iOS and Android platforms as well. However, the company pulled back the release and re-released the app for both the platforms in Oct. 2013.
Microsoft Windows Phone operating system received a lot of popularity after the release of Windows Phone 8 (WP8) in Oct. 2012. Currently, there are millions of smartphones running on WP8 software and many of them may want to use BBM on their handsets.
At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in Feb. 2014, BlackBerry announced its plans to launch BBM for Windows Phone. The company released a beta version in mid-July this year and on Thursday, July 31, BlackBerry announced that it had released the Windows Phone version of BBM.
"As the popularity of BBM continues to grow, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to expand its availability to the Windows Phone community," says John Sims, President Global Enterprise Services at BlackBerry. "The BBM app for Windows Phone shows our commitment to supporting cross-platform capabilities, and we are excited to be working with Microsoft to deliver a new level of collaboration to the Windows Phone platform."
BlackBerry has struggled a lot in the hands of market competition, but the popularity of BBM kept in a comfortable position in the messaging community. In Oct. 2013, BBM was downloaded by more than 10 million people just in the first day.
The privacy and security feature of BBM makes it a highly desirable app in the messaging community. The high popularity of BBM has also made it the number one free app on Apple App store and Google Play store towards the end of 2013. It will be interesting to see if BBM for Windows Phone also witnesses a great demand after its release.
BBM for Windows Phone is available as a free app from the Windows Phone store and is compatible with WP8 and above. The messaging app weighs only 11MBs and supports many languages such as English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Turkish and more.
