BBM for Android and iOS finally became available this week after a bit of a false start in September and BlackBerry have released some of the stats revolving around the messaging program’s jump to other platforms.
According to BlackBerry, the first 24 hours of availability for Android and iOS saw the company’s messaging service secure more than 10 million downloads. How this was split between Apple and Google’s operating systems wasn’t mentioned but BlackBerry did point out that the Google Play edition of the app has been getting a large number of positive reviews from users.
In a statement Andrew Bocking, BlackBerry’s executive vice president for BBM, said “This has been an incredible launch for BBM across Android and iPhone devices. The mobile messaging market is full of opportunity for BBM. We intend to be the leading private social network for everyone who needs the immediate communication and collaboration of instant messaging combined with the privacy, control and reliability delivered through BBM.”
While BBM is available on the Samsung App Store for locals at the moment, BlackBerry South Africa has said that the local versions of Google’s Play Store and Apple’s iTunes will only have it officially available from 20:00 on 24 October. Those will international iTunes accounts have been able to access BBM since its launch on Monday and there are several workarounds floating about online for those who don’t want to wait, though Stuff can’t speak for how effective or safe those are.
