Facebook and Facebook Messenger to drop support for BlackBerry OS later this year
Haje Jan Kamps / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
Facebook's decision lands a month after [[a:865696|WhatsApp announced it would end support for BlackBerry, Nokia, and other older operating systems by the end of 2016]] — the two Meta-owned properties are moving off the same legacy platforms on the same clock. For BlackBerry, whose consumer relevance already rested on messaging, losing its two biggest social apps is another step in the retreat that continues through the related coverage: the eventual shutdown of the BlackBerry World app store, Emtek killing consumer BBM, and finally the January service cutoff for OS 10 and earlier devices.
First-order effects
- BlackBerry OS users lose native Facebook and Facebook Messenger access later this year, pushing any remaining consumer users toward the browser or toward switching devices.
Second-order effects
- With WhatsApp having set the template and Facebook following, other major developers face less cost-benefit pressure to maintain BlackBerry builds, accelerating the erosion of the app catalog that keeps the platform usable.
Third-order effects
- The pattern ends at the terminal state visible in the coverage: legacy BlackBerry devices eventually lose calling, texting, data, and even emergency services when the network-side support ends, confirming that app abandonment was the leading indicator of full platform retirement.
The trend: Major app developers are abandoning legacy mobile operating systems in sequence, converting BlackBerry from a supported consumer platform into one that is wound down service by service.