BBM for Android and iPhone updates now available
Originally published on the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog — A new update to BBM is rolling out for Android and iPhone users. In addition to several new features, bug fixes and performance improvements, we are also proud to deliver something you've …
Context & Ripple Effects
This update is the cleanup pass after a messy debut. In September, BlackBerry's cross-platform BBM rollout reached iOS while the Android version stalled, leaving millions of new users on rival platforms with an unfinished product. Roughly seven weeks later, Inside BlackBerry is shipping feature additions plus bug and performance fixes across both Android and iPhone.
The stakes come from what BBM used to be: back in 2011, BBM 6.0 positioned Messenger as a social layer tied to BlackBerry hardware, which worked only while the devices sold. The eight-outlet pickup of this routine maintenance note shows how much attention now attaches to BBM's fate off-BlackBerry phones.
First-order effects
- Android and iPhone users who signed up during the September rollout get a more stable client, addressing the launch-quality complaints that dogged the initial release.
- BlackBerry's own support channels shift from launch triage to retention work, since the update's stated goal is keeping the newly acquired cross-platform user base engaged.
Second-order effects
- With Kantar putting Android at 51.7% of US smartphone sales through April 2013, fixing the Android build first-class matters more than the iOS fix — that is where most prospective BBM users sit, and where churn would be cheapest.
- Rival messaging apps on Android and iOS now face a re-armed incumbent whose brand recognition among ex-BlackBerry users gives it a distribution shortcut those apps never had.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — flagship service decoupled from flagship hardware — BlackBerry's center of gravity moves from handset maker to cross-platform software vendor, extending the direction BBM 6.0 pointed at in 2011 when it opened Messenger as a social platform rather than a device feature.
- The episode adds to the evidence base behind the 'Android first' debate: a legacy player treating Android as a primary target market reflects the share data, not vanity metrics.
The trend: Legacy mobile platform holders are progressively opening their signature services onto rivals' operating systems to survive the decline of their own hardware bases.