BBM for iOS and Android has been anticipated for a long time by fans and was due to start rolling out yesterday, but unfortunately, the app never made it to the Google Play Store. According to Inside Blackberry, the company paused the launch from yesterday to today for both the Android and iOS versions of the app (of course availability depends on regions and from usual app roll out schedules we expect our African region to have it by early this week). This has been done so as Blackberry can sort out issues caused by a leaked version of the Android app.
BlackBerry says that it hastried to address the problems caused by the leaked app throughout the weekend, but to no avail (allegedly, more than 1.1 million users have already downloaded it), requiring it to halt its launch plans. The company says that those that have already downloaded the iOS version of the app will still be able to use it, but it will not be releasing it to any new markets at this time. The leaked version of the Android app will be disabled.
BBM for iOS and Android was announced back in May and we saw a video of it early this month,and the company had committed to a
launch before the holiday season. With news of massive losses, major layoffs, and a refocus of the company’s efforts on enterprise business instead of consumers hitting just this week, today’s events are just another blow to an already battered company.
