iOS: Last month’s planned launch of Android and iOS clients for BlackBerry messenger (BBM) was quickly pulled after a beta version of the Android client leaked and caused network-wide problems for non-BlackBerry BBM users. Now BlackBerry says it is ready to try again — this time with a staged rollout approach.
In a blog post this morning, BlackBerry announced that the iOS and Android clients are being rolled out. Visiting BBM.com from your Android or iOS device will allow you to install the app. To avoid the issues experience with the previous rollout, you have to register an email address and wait for it to be activated. Users who pre-registered during the previous rollout attempt don’t have to wait. (I was able to activate it on Android immediately.)
BBM has long been a popular IM client for BlackBerry users, in part because of its ability to easily track whether people have seen your messages. Whether it will be able to beat the native clients for these two platforms (iMessage on iOS and Google+ on Android) remains to be seen. The initial version is for text messages and photos only; voice and video remain BlackBerry-only features for now.
BBM for Android and BBM for iPhone: Official Launch Details [Inside BlackBerry]
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