BBM for iOS and Android was released in October and so far we’ve seen some success from the app, such as it experiencing an impressive 5 million downloads within 8 hours of its launch, and with the app rising to the number 2 spot on the iTunes App Store shortly after its release, however it seems that the success of the app could be limited to certain regions. According to Distimo, they have been keeping an eye on the cross-platform version of BBM for iOS and based on their findings, it seems that over in countries such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, BBM has no problems holding its own against the likes of LINE, WeChat, KakaoTalk, and Viber.
However over in countries such as China, Japan, and Korean, BBM has yet to make a significant impact and are clearly dominated by the competition. In a way this isn’t surprising as BlackBerry devices have been popular in regions such as Indonesia, India, Malaysia, and the Philippines (Thailand as well, but oddly enough they weren’t listed in Distimo’s survey), so it could be that former BlackBerry users who might have made the switch to iOS wanted to remain in touch with BlackBerry friends, or perhaps preferred the more familiar interface that is BBM, could explain the app’s popularity.
Filed in . Read more about Apps, BBM and BlackBerry.