BlackBerry’s popular messaging service has exceeded downloads of 20 million on both Android and iPhone. While additional features, such as BBM Voice and BBM Video calling, will be coming to both platforms “in the near future,” BlackBerry’s head of BBM says their next target is the WiFi-only iPad.
BBM for iOS already works on iPads running iOS 6.0 or higher, but only if it’s 3G/4G-enabled. According to Andrew Bocking, head of BBM at BlackBerry, Wi-Fi only iPad users and iPod Touch users can expect to see an update hit the App Store “within 24 hours” that will enable the messaging service to work on their device.
This is good timing, especially with the busy holiday season approaching, for BlackBerry to expand the reach of BBM.
Update: BlackBerry just confirmed via Twitter that this news is true, stating “Yup, you heard right. #BBM4ALL is coming to #iPad & #iPod TODAY. Will let you know when it’s available in App Store.”
Update #2: BBM is now updated on both iOS and Android, here’s the change log:
BBM for Android:
- Support for BBM Contact Categories
- BBM Group List sorting and filtering improvements
- More options for sharing your BBM PIN Barcode
- Find your friends on other social networks who are also using BBM
- Addresses an issue where some users may have experienced higher battery use
BBM for iPhone:
- Support for iPod and iPad devices running iOS6 and iOS7
- Improvements to right-to-left language support
- More options for sharing your BBM PIN Barcode
- Find your friends on other social networks who are also using BBM
- Fixes an issue where some users would be missing BBM contact names
Download BBM for Android and iOS here.
