BlackBerry Messenger has been on a two-week hiatus and is nowhere to be seen as the company claims that it is still committed to release the cross-platform messenger for Android and iPhone.
To be originally released on September 21, BlackBerry Messenger did surface on the Apple App Store for a couple of hours, but was removed soon after because according to BlackBerry the unofficial version of the Android app messed up its servers. According to BlackBerry they are working hard to resolve the issues that cropped up because of the Android app and will soon release the apps once more.
In a tweet yesterday, BlackBerry said, “Still 100% committed to bringing #BBM to Android and iPhone. Sign up at http://BBM.com to know when #BBM4All.”
According to reports, BlackBerry has been developing BBM for Android and iPhone since early 2011 and was even offered to some carriers as an alternative means for SMS. Former co-CEO of BlackBerry Jim Balsillie was highly inclined to promote the BBM service to carriers and had even discussed the options of providing the messaging app to customers under a standard talk/text plan. He had mulled of high-cost plans as well with options such as cloud storage where users can stash away music, photos and much more.
However, the development of BlackBerry 10 took precedence as soon as Thorsten Heinz took the reins of the company. Heinz was inclined towards keeping the BBM as a BlackBerry exclusive app as he was of the opinion that a cross-platform app would hurt BlackBerry smartphone sales.
As it stands, the earlier strategy could have been a far better option and could have given BBM a 2-years head start and huge payoffs had it been released in 2011 in collaboration with more carriers across the globe.
There were reports earlier that the app isn’t been rolled out as the company is currently busy mulling over the $4.7 takeover bid by a Fairfax led consortium.
