BlackBerry Messenger to come preloaded on LG smartphones

The Canadian company announced that the LG's mid-range phablet, the G Pro Lite would be the first LG device to come with BBM preinstalled.

However, LG has not revealed other smartphone names that would come preloaded with BBM. The BBM app allows users to exchange texts, voice notes and pictures with friends and others. 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.

Commenting on the announcement, Kevin Shin Vice President of Marketing for Asia, the Middle East and CIS countries of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company said, "BBM is widely used throughout the Middle East, Africa and Indonesia where smartphone users tend to engage heavily in social networking. The LG G Pro Lite offers an optimized BBM experience with its large, high quality display and embedded Stylus Pen."

BlackBerry's Executive Vice President for BBM, Andrew Bocking said, "People across the globe are using BBM to connect with each other and the enthusiasm has been phenomenal. We're extremely pleased that LG Electronics will help bring their customers a more seamless experience with BBM by preloading the app, starting with the G Pro Lite in key markets."

BlackBerry finally released the much-awaited BlackBerry Messenger service to users of Android and iPhone devices in October, after the initial rollout hit a roadblock due to a leaked Android build of BBM that went viral ahead of the official launch.

BBM was downloaded more than 10 million times on iOS and Android within the first 24 hours, bringing in over 20 million new users to the BlackBerry Messenger platform in the first week.

It's worth pointing out that the Micromax Canvas smartphone range in India already comes preinstalled with BBM app, which the company announced in September this year. In addition, BlackBerry also announced that its cross-platform messaging app will be preinstalled on a number of Android smartphones from domestic brands, namely Celkon, Spice and Zen, starting December.