On Wednesday, just as Apple was preparing to unleash iOS 7, Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry confirmed the forthcoming weekend arrival of the BBM messaging service on iOS and Android.
BBM will land on Android this Saturday, September 21st. The following day, Sunday, September 22nd, BBM for iOS will launch.
Among the announced features of BBM for Android and iPhone are:
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BBM Chat – Enjoy real, immediate conversations with friends on Android, iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones. Not only does BBM let you know that your message has been delivered and read, it also shows you that your friend is responding to the message.
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More than chat – With BBM you can share files on your phone such as photos and voice notes, all in an instant.
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Keep your group in the loop – Multi-person chats are a great way to invite contacts to chat together. BBM Groups lets you invite up to 30 friends to chat together, and go a step further than multi-chat by sharing photos and schedules. And, with Broadcast Message, you can send a message out to all your BBM contacts at once.
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Post Updates and stay in the know – BBM lets you post a personal message, profile picture and your current status, and lets your contacts know instantly in Updates.
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Your unique PIN – Every BBM user has a unique PIN that maintains your privacy, so you don’t have to give out your phone number or email address to a new or casual contact.
“BBM is a very engaging messaging service that is simple to use, easy to personalize and has an immediacy that is necessary for mobile communications,” says Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President for BBM at BlackBerry. “With more than a billion Android, iOS, and BlackBerry smartphones in the market, and no dominant mobile instant messaging platform, this is absolutely the right time to bring BBM to Android and iPhone customers.”
