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| Until now the BBM app had been limited to Blackberry's own devices |
From this weekend,
users will no longer need to own a Blackberry device to access its BBM
messaging service.
Blackberry has
confirmed BBM will be available as a free download for Apple and Android
devices but not for Windows phones.
The move comes as the Wall Street Journal reports
that Blackberry will lay off 40% of its staff before 2014.
Widening the appeal of
BBM could be a clever way for the company to reinvent itself, said experts.
"Blackberry is
having a tough time, sales are down, it is losing market to Windows phones and
it needs to do something to stop the rot. This is as good a move as any,"
said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group Europe.
"Offering it
across other platforms broadens the appeal of BBM," he added.
BBM will be available
for Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean while iPhones
running iOS 6 or iOS 7 can also download it. It will be available for Android
from Saturday and for iOS from Sunday.
"With more than a
billion Android, iOS and Blackberry smartphones in the market, and no dominant
mobile messaging platform this is absolutely the right time to bring BBM to
Android and iPhone customers," said Andrew Bocking, vice-president for BBM
in a blogpost.
Reinventing
itself
BBM has been described
as Blackberry's "crown jewels" and the service hit a chord with a
mass consumer audience.
Offering it to a wider
public will not make any money for the company.
"It could even
cost it money," said Mr Green.
"The firm is
having to reinvent itself and whether that will be by focusing on software,
monetising BBM, licensing its products or joint ventures is not yet clear. At
the moment it is throwing everything out there," said Mr Green.
Blackberry chief
executive Thorsten Heins revealed the plan at the company's annual developers
conference in May.
At the time, Mr Heins
said that the move was a "statement of confidence" and would allow
Blackberry Messenger to "become an independent multi-platform messaging
solution".
It could prove
disruptive to other messaging services such as Skype and Whatsapp.
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