BlackBerry’s BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), coveted by teenagers and it girls the world over, is headed out of the confines of the RIM OS, and into Android and possibly iOS handsets. We’re scratching our heads over this one: is this the equivalent of BlackBerry donating both its kidneys to Android, or is it a sensible move that will mean RIM is truly proliferate in the mobile space?
BGR reports that it’s had confirmation that BBM is headed to Android devices, although unsurprisingly there’s no word on the progress of getting into the world of Apple.
There are no final details on how BBM on other operating systems will pan out in terms of payment and pricing (will Android users have to pay to get it bundled in with their contract, or will it remain completely free?). BGR reports that BlackBerry will most likely offer a stripped down service, without extra multimedia messaging features.
For users this could be a massive boon, meaning we’ll be able to communicate across a raft of smartphones for free, cutting down our SMS usage by a fair chunk.
IS BlackBerry shooting themselves in the foot offering it’s most appealing feature to other operating systems, or is it a sensible move to dominate the instant messaging space on mobile? Shout out in the comments!
[via BGR]
