It’s undeniable BlackBerry’s BBM client is one of the few reasons why BlackBerry owners won’t abandon their phones as they can’t imagine a world without it, even though there are applications like WhatsApp that offer a similar experience on iOS and Android devices. BlackBerry wants to keep its users using its BBM service, which is why they’re looking to expand some of its features in the future.
One such feature BlackBerry is testing out a feature called BBM Money with Indonesian bank PermataBank. BBM Money would allow for BBM users to transfer money to other users of BlackBerry’s popular messaging service. Transferring money is said to be as easy as chatting, and BBM Money even features bank-grade security measures to make sure the transaction is completely safe.
The program is currently only available for BlackBerry’s Indonesia market on BlackBerry 5, 6 and 7 devices, although BlackBerry 10 devices are expected to receive the new feature. If the program does well, BlackBerry plans to extend BBM Money to other emerging markets.
Filed in . Read more about BBM, BlackBerry and BlackBerry 10.