Can BlackBerry Messenger rule Android and iPhone Messaging Apps ?

While the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) has connected people with its ground-breaking mobile social network, there had been a reported decline in its usage with the release of affordable Android phones and rival Apps such as WhatsApp and Viber. In a move, that could arguably have been made a couple of years ago, the BBM is about to go cross-platform and will soon be available on Android devices and iPhones as a downloadable app.

Communicating over the phone's Internet connection, the BBM set the standard for instant mobile messaging with a fast, reliable, engaging experience. In addition to text-based instant messages, the BBM also offered sending pictures, audio recordings, files and even make video calls over the Wi-Fi or mobile network.

The downside to all the hoopla was that the BBM was BlackBerry-exclusive and if a user discarded the BlackBerry phone, the BBM was lost too.

As a result, services like WhatsApp and Nimbuzz, available on Smartphone platforms, gained dominance. But with this latest development, the BBM will run on Apple devices running iOS 6 and Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean, that too for free. iOS and Android users will be able to add their contacts through PIN, email, SMS or QR code scan. They can connect to the BBM using a compatible NFC-capable device.

BlackBerry also announced the launch of BBM Channels, a new social platform within BBM that will allow Twitter-like functionality, allowing customers to connect with different businesses, brands, celebrities and groups. Initially, iOS and Android users will be able to chat on BBM, including multi-person chats and also be able to share photos and voice notes and also engage in BBM Groups, which allows creation of groups of up to 30 people.

 Depending on the success of the initial plan, BlackBerry plans to expand its support for BBM Channels as well as voice and video chatting for iOS and Android, but only after approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play.

BBM has reportedly more than 60 million active customers who collectively send and receive more than 10 billion messages each day, which is almost twice as many messages as compared to other mobile messaging apps, half of which are read within 20 seconds. This move is seen as a bid to coax users into using BBM and make it dominant among the mobile social network service. Interestingly, it comes at a time when the company plans is all set to release a touch screen Smartphone, the A10. It is yet to be seen how users will respond to the new BBM.