After mulling the idea internally for several
years, BlackBerry is opening its proprietary
messaging system to iPhone and Android users
this weekend. The free app eliminates what had
been a compelling, exclusive draw for the
company's devices, but expands the reach of
the service and creates an asset that in theory
could be sold separately as BlackBerry
considers its alternatives for the future.
BBM will be available Saturday for Android
phones and Sunday for iPhones, the company
said Wednesday. The plan to take BBM cross-
platform was announced by BlackBerry Chief
Executive Thorsten Heins four months ago, and
the app was due to arrive this summer.
BlackBerry executives toyed with the idea of
making BBM cross-platform as long as three
years ago, according to people close to the
company. A plan was in place in late 2011 to
have carriers pay a fee to take BBM to
customers using other phones, but was
scrapped by Mr. Heins when he took over as
CEO in early 2012, according to these people.
The concern was always that finding a bigger
audience for the app could diminish incentives
to buy the company's phones.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month
that BlackBerry is considering spinning off the
messaging service into a subsidiary called BBM
Inc. that would operate with more
independence, according to people familiar
with the matter.
BBM currently has 60 million monthly active
users, and the company claims users are much
more likely to read and respond to BBMs than
messages on competing services or text
messages.
There are lots of those, however, and they are
growing much faster than BBM. Popular rival
WhatsApp, for instance, has more than 200
million users.
BlackBerry Channels, a Twitter-like service for
companies and celebrities to host BBM pages
and interact with customers and fans, won't be
available immediately. BlackBerry executives
have signaled that selling ads on Channels is
how it plans to earn revenue from BBM.
BBM Video and Voice calling, already available
to BlackBerry users, will be available to iOS
and Android users in a future version.
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