With BBM destined to hit iOS and Android handsets in the coming weeks, BlackBerry has confirmed the messaging service already has a staggering 60 million users.
While BlackBerry has seen smartphone sales struggle in recent years, its BBM user base seems in good health, with the company confirming there are now more than 60 million active BBM users and many more expected when the service makes the jump in app form to iOS and Android later this summer.
“BBM has more than 60 million monthly active users,” Heins stated during his BlackBerry Live keynote earlier today. Offering further detail on the true extent of BBM usage, he added: “51 million users connect with friends and colleague on BBM for an average of 90 minutes every day and more than 10 billion messages are sent and received every day.
“That is nearly twice as many messages per user head per day than any other mobile messaging application out there.”
Continuing to highlight the messaging service’s strong following ahead of its iOS and Android debut, he added: “Almost half of all messages received are read within 20 seconds. This is an incredible level of use.”
With the BBM service set to make its first move away from the BlackBerry platform later this summer, the company has predictive strong uptake on the WhatsApp and iMessage rival, with Vivek Bhardwaj, the Head of BlackBerry’s Software Portfolio suggesting “huge growth” is possible.
Speaking openly with TrustedReviews he stated: “The growth curve for BBM is a little unpredictable at this point. We need to get the application out there on both the platforms and we need to make sure iOS and Android users know how to user BBM first.
“Our hope is absolutely huge growth. This is part of the strategy, get it out to the masses, so the faster and higher that adoption rate goes, the better it is for us.”
