BlackBerry has suggested that it was ‘not that surprised’ when the recent cross-platform BBM app recorded a staggering 10 million day one downloads.
With iOS and Android iterations of the free-to-use messaging service having been long called for, BlackBerry has suggested that it had expected such strong early interest ahead of the BBM platform finally stepping away from its BlackBerry handset locked roots.
“It’s not that surprising,” David Proulx, BlackBerry’s Senior Director of Platform Business Development for BBM said of the day one download figures. “We are pleased but not surprised.”
Speaking exclusively with TrustedReviews, Proulx added: “It wasn’t a cold start. Had it been a cold start I think there would have been that element of surprise.”
Explaining the company’s strong belief in the early BBM success, he said of last autumn’s launch: “10 million day one downloads was reflective of pent-up demand.”
He added: “10 million downloads in a day is still, as far as I can tell, without precedent in mobile applications but we have to recognize that those 10 million downloads are a function of the existing 60 million people who were active on BlackBerry at that time, using it for 90 minutes per day and responding to messages inside 20 seconds.”
Although such high day one BBM downloads did not shock the company, Proulx has claimed that BlackBerry is pleased with the continued success of its WhatsApp rival.
He stated: “What we are really excited and encouraged by is that eight weeks after launch we were already up to 40 million new registered users on iOS and Android.”
A second-generation BBM update will be rolled out to iOS and Android users in a matter of weeks, adding more features to the messaging platform.
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