After BlackBerry
resumed the rollout of its popular messaging app, BBM or BlackBerry Messenger to Android and iOS users, it reported that the app has been downloaded over 10 million times by Android and iPhone users, one of the best single-day openings for a mobile app to date.
Announcing the milestone, BlackBerry added that BBM had also become the number one free app in iTunes App Store in more than 75 countries in the first 24 hours, including the US, Canada, the UK, Indonesia and most of the Middle East. It also announced that user ratings in both the iTunes App Store and Google Play were mostly positive, earning BBM 60,000 five-star reviews on Google Play from about 87,000 reviews.
"This has been an incredible launch for BBM across Android and iPhone devices. The mobile messaging market is full of opportunity for BBM. We intend to be the leading private social network for everyone who needs the immediate communication and collaboration of instant messaging combined with the privacy, control and reliability delivered through BBM," said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President, BBM at BlackBerry.
BlackBerry's popular instant messaging platform, BlackBerry Messenger or BBM finally landed on non-BlackBerry OS platforms, Android and iOS, on Monday, after a delay of more than a month.
The app allows users to exchange texts, voice notes and pictures with each other. It also offers group chat. Users need to sign-in with a BlackBerry ID following which a PIN is allocated to them, in a manner similar to BlackBerry Messenger on BlackBerry. Users can then add friends by sharing their PIN with friends via SMS, email and social networks in addition to QR codes.
Also Read: BBM for iOS review It's worth pointing out that one BlackBerry ID can only be used on a single device, at a given time.
On its native BlackBerry OS platform, BBM offers voice calling through BBM Voice and video chat through BBM Video (only on BlackBerry 10).
BlackBerry has reiterated that BBM Voice (voice chat) will also be introduced to BBM for iOS and Android, in the future, in addition to BBM Channels (broadcast groups) and BBM Video (video chat).