Even though it was exclusive to BlackBerry devices, BlackBerry Messenger was once the most widely used messaging service. A lot has changed since then. BlackBerry no longer has the market share that it used to and as a result BBM’s user base declined over the years. In order to save it from going under BlackBerry spun off BBM into a separate division and launched it on rival platforms. A couple of weeks back the company confirmed that BBM for Windows Phone is going to be released in beta and it has seen considerable user interest since the beta opened up.
BlackBerry is taking things slow and will gradually scale BBM across Windows Phone. Its running a closed beta initially and only those who were able to sign up in time would receive an invitation to try out the messenger on their WP devices.
In a post on the company’s official blog the SVP of emerging solutions at BlackBerry, Matthew Talbot, revealed all 10,000 beta testing slots for BBM on Windows Phone were taken within 24 hours. He says that the momentum is present and so is the excitement among Windows Phone users, so the company is going to make sure that they scale BBM across the platform just right.
In the coming months BBM for Windows Phone will receive additional features like stickers, BBM Voice, Channels, location sharing and more. Currently beta users can chat one on one and with multiple people, send pictures, voice notes or contacts and keep up on each other’s status updates through the feed.
Filed in . Read more about BBM, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.