BlackBerry has announced
that BlackBerry Messenger will be released today for Android and iOS.
The company originally planned to release its messaging app late last
month, but those plans were abruptly pushed back
when an early version of the Android app publicly leaked ahead of
schedule. The company says that "about 1 million" Android users were
using the unreleased version of BBM for Android, and BlackBerry is also
claiming that more than 1 million iOS users managed to "side load" the
app onto iPhone. "In the next few hours, people will start seeing BBM in
Google Play, the App Store and in select Samsung App Stores," the
company says.
But unfortunately it appears
that BlackBerry is still very much concerned about an initial surge of
users. It's implementing a registration wait list; upon opening the app,
you'll have to enter an email
address to reserve your spot. Anyone that
signed up for information about the mobile apps at BBM.com won't have
to wait, but new signups will have to deal with the virtual queue.
Despite being despised by users, the wait list has become an
increasingly popular tactic among startups.
Still, it strikes us as odd to see BlackBerry using the strategy. "We
are focused on moving millions of customers through the line as fast as
possible," BlackBerry says. The company will be providing updates on
"how quickly the line is moving" via its Twitter account. BlackBerry
first announced that its BBM client would be going multi-platform in May.
Update: BlackBerry has announced
that the BBM app is now available for download from the iTunes App
Store and Google Play. We have successfully downloaded it on an iPhone
5S, but it doesn't look like the Android version is available in the US
just yet.
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