Earlier this year BlackBerry announced that it would finally bring its BlackBerry Messenger to both Android and iPhone. No release date was announced back then, there had been a lot of speculation about the release, which was initially promised for summer 2013. Moments ago BlackBerry officially announced the release dates, BBM for Android goes live on September 21st, for the iPhone on September 22nd.
BBM has always been exclusive to BlackBerry devices, but now it will be available as a free download from Google Play Store and the iOS App Store. Users will be able to chat with their friends who have BBM on their device, thus making this once BB only messaging service cross-platform. Users will be shown read reports and will also be able to see when the other person is responding to their message. They’ll also be able to share photos and voice notes. Multi-person chats are possible as well, BBM Groups allows users to invite as many as 30 friends to chat together. Users will have their own unique pin, so they won’t have to give out their number or email in order to add a contact on BBM. BBM for Android will be supported by devices that run Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean. Only iPhones capable of running iOS 6 and iOS 7 will be able to support BBM. There will not be an iPad app at launch.
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