BlackBerry announced further expansion of BBM to the overlooked Windows Phone and the latest companion Nokia X platform, starting this summer.
BlackBerry's BBM, the company's most popular instant messaging service, was till date available only to Android and iOS users, but now Windows Phones can also avail the service. The Canadian smartphone maker decided to make its cross-platform messenger accessible on Windows Phone as well as the newly launched Nokia X Android platform. The app, which will be available as a free download, will hit the Windows Phone Store and Nokia Store starting this summer, the company confirmed on Monday.
The BBM app for Windows Phone and Nokia will include top features like group chats for up to 50 users, read and delivery reports, photo and file sharing and newly introduced free voice calls over Wi-Fi, BBM Channels among other features.
"BBM continues to grow in popularity as millions of people use our mobile platform for chatting and connecting with friends or colleagues, and we are very excited that we will soon welcome Windows Phone and Nokia X users to the BBM community," John Sims, President of BlackBerry Global Enterprise Solutions, said in a statement.
BBM for Windows Phone was long in demand, soon after the app hit the Apple App Store and Google Play Store late last year. The expansion to two new platforms gave a significant boost to the popular instant messaging app, pushing the active user-base to more than 80 million.
BlackBerry, which was once a major share holder in the mobile market, is holding on to its instant messenger as the company struggles with ailing sales of high-end smartphones. The company's recent efforts with BBM show the significance of the messaging service in BlackBerry's ecosystem. The mobile app competes directly with the likes of WhatsApp, Line, Facebook Messenger, Viber and several other third party messaging apps. But the frequent updates, like inclusion of stickers and support for Android 2.3 Gingerbread, have earned a significant rank for BBM in the competitive messaging race.
BBM on Google Play Store shows that it has been downloaded 50 million times and is currently the ninth most popular free social networking app in the Apple App Store.
Windows Phone and Nokia X users can download the free app in the coming months from here.
