BlackBerry resumes rollout of BBM for Android users

BlackBerry has resumed the rollout of its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) to iPhone and Android platforms. BlackBerry was forced to suspend the rollout last month, after an unreleased version of the BBM for Android app was posted online.

This older version resulted in “volumes of data traffic orders of magnitude higher than normal for each active user and impacted the system in abnormal ways”, according to BlackBerry.

The company attempted to address the problems while the rollout was still underway, but eventually decided to pause the rollout for both Android and iPhone, in order to completely block the unreleased version and ensure that the system was reinforced to handle this kind of scenario in the future.

It has taken nearly a month, but BlackBerry has announced that the official BBM app is now available in Google Play, the App Store and in select Samsung App Stores, where it will be free to download.

“The demand for BBM on Android and BBM on iPhone continues to be amazing. About six million people signed up for information about BBM at BBM.com,” said Andrew Bocking, head of BBM at BlackBerry, in a blog post.

“As you know, in just seven hours, about one million Android users were using the unreleased version of BBM for Android. What you don’t know is that more than one million people have found creative ways to “side load” BBM on their iPhone. This is incredible.”

Bocking said that the easiest way to download BBM is to visit BBM.com from your Android or iPhone browser. Once the app is installed, you can enter your email to hold your place in the queue, and BlackBerry will email you as soon as you reach the front and can start using BBM.

Customers who have already signed up at BBM.com can jump the queue. However, BlackBerry said that it is focused on moving millions of customers through the line as fast as possible. “Our team of developers and engineers has been working around the clock to bring you BBM – and make some upgrades while we’re at it – and some incredible work has been done,” said Bocking.

“Thank you for your patience. We know you’re excited (we are too!) and we look forward to having you join us on BBM.” BBM is widely perceived as BlackBerry’s most valuable asset aside from its corporate email, BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

However, its 60m users are already dwarfed by the 200m people who use the WhatsApp service, which currently works across platforms, and has replaced text messages for many of its young users.

—telegraph.co.uk