With BBM apps set to be released for iPhone and Android users later this summer, BlackBerry has suggested the Windows Phone platform is too small to warrant the effort of creating a bespoke application, despite currently offering more apps than the BlackBerry 10 OS.
A case of the pot calling the kettle black, BlackBerry’s Windows Phone snobbery comes as something of a surprise, with the Canadian handset manufacturer having come under similar criticism to Microsoft’s smartphone software, criticism based around a lack of high-profile apps.
Suggesting that the Windows Phone 8 platform does not “stand out” as a viable option to hit mass market figures, the Head of BlackBerry’s Software Portfolio, Vivek Bhardwaj, has stated that Android and iOS can take BBM to new markets unobtainable by Windows Phone 8, or indeed other mobile systems.
“Our goal is to make sure that we can get BBM to the masses at this point,” Bhardwaj said speaking with TrustedReviews when questioned on the lack of a Windows Phone 8 BBM app. “When we look at critical masses and we look at other mobile platforms, iOS and Android at this point in time stand out to us.”
Keen to stress that there is no particular bias again the rival Microsoft OS, he added: “We are not excluding other platforms, it is just our focus needs to be on those that can get BBM to the masses and the data shows that iOS and Android make up the bulk of mobile users around the world.”
Further outlining the company’s strategy with its newly confirmed cross-platform BBM set-up, Bhardwaj went on to state: “This is less about just putting an app on another phones, it’s about providing a service and building on BBM.”
Although a release date has yet to be formally confirmed, BlackBerry President and CEO Thorsten Heins announced yesterday that BBM iPhone and Android apps will be officially launched this summer.
