BBM will arrive on Android and iOS devices from June 27, marking the first time the messaging platform will be available outside of BlackBerry devices.
A tweet from T-Mobile UK has confirmed that the BBM service will launch for iOS and Android devices on June 27.
“Great news – BlackBerry Messenger will be available to download on iOS and Android from June 27th!,” reads the tweet from the official T-Mobile UK feed.
BlackBerry has yet to officially confirm the BBM Android and iOS arrival itself, but the Canadian smartphone manufacturer announced its plans to make BBM a multi-platform messaging service for the first time during BlackBerry Live last month.
“It’s time to bring BBM to a greater audience, no matter what mobile device they carry”, said BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins during the BlackBerry Live Keynote. “This summer BBM will go live across multiple platforms.”
BBM will be available on iPhones running iOS 6 and Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich or newer.
BlackBerry did reveal that the iOS BBM app will not be supported on iPads at launch, leaving iPad mini and iPad 4 users without access to the newly Apple-friendly messaging service come June 27.
“Smartphone is our real focus and again it comes back to what BBM is,” said Vivek Bhardwaj, Head of the BlackBerry Software portfolio, to TrustedReviews during BlackBerry Live. “If you look at BBM and the engagement and the activity, it’s because it is mobile, because people are on the go.”
iPad compatibility with the BBM app could come with time, but BlackBerry has confirmed that smartphones are its priority right now.
“When you start looking at tablets, computers and other screens, the usage model changes and behaviour changes. For us right now the absolute focus is getting BBM onto smartphones,” Bhardwaj added.
The arrival of BBM on Android and iOS means BlackBerry’s messaging service will compete with the likes of WhatsApp, iMessage and Google Hangouts for messaging superiority.
Next, read our review of the BlackBerry Z10.
