Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry has added BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) Channels and voice calls to the Android BBM app - albeit in beta for now.
This comes in the wake of the company's announcement last May that it would launch a Facebook-like platform as part of its popular BBM instant messaging app, which was snapped up by millions within days of it becoming available to Android and iPhone users for the first time in October.
The beta app add-on comes as a precursor to BBM Channels - a new social engagement platform within BBM that will allow users to connect and engage with businesses, brands and celebrities - being made available across platforms.
BlackBerry said yesterday it was committed to ultimately offering the same feature set - including BBM Channels - across BlackBerry, iPhone and Android devices. "BBM Channels lives in BBM, so BBM Channels will be available in the latest version of BBM, when released."
While the Android BBM beta update is currently only available to Android users who have signed up to the service, BlackBerry says BBM Channels and voice calls for Android devices will be rolled out in SA in due course.
The updated mobile app will also include improvements, such as easier sharing of photos, more emoticons and increased BBM Group sizes, says the company.
Channelling assets
BBM is one of the assets BlackBerry is leveraging in its endeavour to turn its fortunes around in a market dominated by Apple's iPhone and an ever-increasing number of Android devices - notably those made by Samsung.
The day BlackBerry rolled out BBM for Android and iPhone customers, the app was downloaded more than 10 million times. A week later, BBM stood on 20 million downloads - bringing the total number of BBM users to more than 80 million. During the first week of open availability, BBM was the top free overall app in 35 countries in Google Play and in 107 countries in Apple's App Store.
At the time of the BBM Channels announcement - at BlackBerry Live 2013 - Andrew Bocking, executive VP of software product management and ecosystem at BlackBerry, said BBM's extensive global user base would give content creators an opportunity to enhance their brands.
Then CEO Thorsten Heins had an optimistic outlook for the company's new social media platform, given that its BBM users, he said, consisted of "highly-engaged" individuals. Heins noted the average time within which BBM messages were read was 20 seconds.
While BlackBerry's executive team could not discuss strategy in detail, it was alluded to that BBM Channels would, in the long run, be monetised by advertising.
Towards the end of last year, BlackBerry made BBM Channels available for BlackBerry users on OS 5 and above, and BlackBerry 10, through BlackBerry World. Users could update to the newest version of BBM to get access to the platform's beta version on 27 November.
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