BlackBerry Pauses BBM Release For Android And iOS

BlackBerry has released an official statement in regards to the BBM for Android and iOS delay, below you can read the statement from BlackBerry.

Prior to launching BBM for Android, an unreleased version of the BBM for Android app was posted online. The interest and enthusiasm we have seen already more than 1.1 million active users in the first 8 hours without even launching the official Android app is incredible. Consequently, this unreleased version caused issues, which we have attempted to address throughout the day.

Our teams continue to work around the clock to bring BBM to Android and iPhone, but only when it’s ready and we know it will live up to your expectations of BBM. We are pausing the global roll-out of BBM for Android and iPhone. Customers who have already downloaded BBM for iPhone will be able to continue to use BBM. The unreleased Android app will be disabled, and customers who downloaded it should visit www.BBM.com to register for updates on official BBM for Android availability.


When the Apps go live be sure to follow the links for a direct link to the Google Play Store and iTunes App Store download page.


We also got out hands on the official, unofficially release Android APK. If your interested in taking it for a spin message us....

*UPDATED* BBM Coming To Android And iOS, Is It To Late For BlackBerry

BlackBerry has confirmed that it will release BlackBerry Messenger for Android and iPhone later this week. The BBM for Android app is expected to be available starting at 7:00 a.m. Eastern on Sept. 21, while BBM for iPhone will hit the App Store at 12:01 a.m. local time on Sept. 22. BlackBerry notes that BBM for Android will require version 4.0 or higher. BBM for iPhone will be available to users on iOS 6 and iOS 7.

BBM for Android and iPhone features:

• BBM Chat – Enjoy real, immediate conversations with friends on Android, iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones. Not only does BBM let you know that your message has been delivered and read, it also shows you that your friend is responding to the message.
More than chat – With BBM you can share files on your phone such as photos and voice notes, all in an instant.
• Keep your group in the loop – Multi-person chats are a great way to invite contacts to chat together. BBM Groups lets you invite up to 30 friends to chat together, and go a step further than multi-chat by sharing photos and schedules. And, with Broadcast Message, you can send a message out to all your BBM contacts at once.
• Post Updates and stay in the know – BBM lets you post a personal message, profile picture and your current status, and lets your contacts know instantly in Updates.
• Your unique PIN – Every BBM user has a unique PIN that maintains your privacy, so you don’t have to give out your phone number or email address to a new or casual contact.

BBM gives you a private social network for active, real conversations and it has more than 60 million customers on BlackBerry alone. The overwhelming majority use BBM an average of 90 minutes per day. BBM customers collectively send and receive more than 10 billion messages each day, nearly twice as many messages per user per day as compared to other mobile messaging apps. Messages on BBM are typically read within seconds, reflecting how truly engaged BBM customers are.

• It’s immediate. BBM is always on so you are always connected. And because messages on BBM are typically delivered and read within seconds, it’s the closest thing to a live conversation.
• You trust it. BBM always tells you that messages are delivered and read. BBM conversations come alive on a private network you can count on.
• You control it. BBM allows you to choose your contacts and how you share your information. BBM uses a PIN so you don’t have to give anyone your phone number or email address.

Update: You can now download and install BBM for Android by following the link. However BBM will not finish the setup process but will allow you to download and install on your device. We'll keep you posted on details.

Source: Inside BlackBerry

BlackBerry Considers Breaking BBM Off Into New Company, BBM Inc.

BlackBerry is seemingly on the verge of finally releasing BlackBerry Messenger for the iPhone and Android devices. According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, however, the company may have even bigger plans for BBM. The Journal on Tuesday reported that BlackBerry is considering spinning its BlackBerry Messenger division off into a separate company called “BBM Inc.” that would operate as a BlackBerry subsidiary with more independence than it currently has. The company is also once again considering expanding BBM beyond BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices to desktop computers, according to the report. ”We have announced our plans to offer this trusted mobile messaging service to iPhone and Android users sometime this summer,” a BlackBerry spokeswoman said in response to the report. “We have made no further announcements.” Breaking BBM off into a new company is one of many different ideas being tossed around as BlackBerry looks to recover from its current downturn.


Source: The Wall Street Journal

BlackBerry Announces BBM Coming To iOS And Android

BlackBerry has been rumored to bring its BBM messaging platform to iOS and other devices before, today the company has made things official announcing at its event that support for both iOS and Android will be arriving in the coming months. The service, which BlackBerry says currently has about  60 million monthly active users, will come to devices running iOS 6 and Android 4.0 or above when it’s launched as a free app sometime this summer in the App Store and Google Play.

The company said that it would be bringing messaging and groups functionality to new platforms first but also has plans to introduce voice features, screen sharing, and its just announced ”social engagement platform” dubbed ‘Channels’ in future releases. BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said the company is “committed to making the BBM experience on other platforms as fully featured” as possible.

While features such as screen sharing and voice will come later, the following features will be available to the iOS and Android apps at launch:

• The immediacy of BBM chats
• Multi-person chats
• Voice note sharing
• BlackBerry Groups, where BBM users are able to set up groups of up to 30 people and share calendar, photos, files and more

BlackBerry notes in its press release that Apple and Google will first have to approve the planned BBM apps (as always) before launching in the App Store and Google Play.

Video Chat Coming To BlackBerry 10

CEO Thorsten Heins confirmed what many have been hoping. BlackBerry Messenger will utilize the Video Chat feature. We caught an earlier glimpse of this in BlackBerry 10 demo video showing the Video Chat feature available while in call with another BlackBerry user or while viewing their contact information.

It will be really interesting to see how the video chat feature works. Perhaps RIM will allow for multiple video chats to occur while in a group? If you’re an owner of the PlayBook, you’ve likely already witnessed how the Video Chat feature will work.

BlackBerry 10 BBM Images Leak

Purported images of Research In Motion’s next-generation BlackBerry Messenger application have been leaked online. N4BB, which has been on a roll lately with BlackBerry 10 scoops, has obtained some images showing what RIM’s BBM app will look like on the new BlackBerry 10 operating system. Among other things, N4BB notes that the new BBM will feature a darker theme and colors that will save battery life on BlackBerry 10 devices by an estimated 25%, while “optimization to take advantage of the OLED screen… could decrease upwards of 75% battery consumption.” The website on Monday revealed images of the first two BlackBerry 10 devices as well, showing one with just a touchscreen and one with a physical QWERTY keyboard.

BlackBerry Messenger Installed And Set-Up On Android

As you know It’s been quite a while since we heard about BlackBerry Messenger on Android. The last we heard was that a test app from RIM was over in development over a year ago, and though RIM has grown closer to Android through its Playbook tablet, still no official BlackBerry Messenger App for Android. 


Well the wait is finally over, We here at "The Phone Ninja" have successful installed and set-up BlackBerry Messenger on our Sprint Motorola Photon 4G device, running beta software of Android 2.3.5 (see the above image). It's not working great, however besides the occasional "force close" its not working to bad. 


I do have the APK, but don't want to post it until I can work out the kinks. Please feel free to comment below. 

RIM Puts SMS 2.0 And BBM On Hold

Many of us rely on BBM to perform our daily tasks. From teenagers to security professionals, RIM’s very famous messaging client has been a very important way of communicating with others. But as RIM’s stock went down a while back with the 3 day outage, some of its users moved to other platforms and so the number of BBM users decreased. Some worry that the popularity of the popular messaging tool will fade away.

For a while now we’ve been hearing rumors about BBM possibly coming to other platforms, we even reported on some leaked screenshots of BBM supposedly running on Android. The project was unofficially called by RIM as “SMS 2.0″. WSJ says:

"Executives came up with a specific BBM strategy that aimed to open up RIM’s proprietary network to other smartphone markers and carriers and license BBM as a service that could be used on a wide variety of devices including iPhones and Android phones, according to these people. The project was unofficially called “SMS 2.0″ within the company, these people said."

While some people within the company said this could be a good idea that would drive more users into BlackBerry and help make the company stay relevant, others thought this might encourage BlackBerry users to move on to another platform. There haven’t been more news on this project since.

We do know that BlackBerry Messenger is still part of their plans since they have already said BBM will be in the upcoming BB10 platform, and the new BlackBerry Curve 9320 and 9220 have their own BBM dedicated key, but we don’t know what RIM holds for BBM’s future. What would you like to see next in BBM?

Let us know in the comments below!

BBM Voicemail For BlackBerry

Have you ever wanted to exchange voice messages with your BBM contacts rather than have to type them? There’s a new app called VVM Messenger that allows you to record, send and receive voice messages with any of your BBM contacts. VVM Messenger lets you send short voice messages up to 25 seconds without incurring pricey roaming or long distance voice calling charges.

The developer says the app is currently in public beta and users must meet the following Requirements:

• OS 6 or later (OS 5 support coming soon. Stay tuned!)
• SD card
• BBM 6.0.1 or later (VVM Messenger will prompt you to download it if you don’t have it installed the first time you run VVM Messenger)

Users will also have to make sure their recipients of a BBM Voicemail also has VVM Messenger in order to receive the message. Although, if you send someone a VVM and they don’t have VVM Messenger installed they will automatically receive an App World invite to download VVM Messenger.

• Download VVM Messenger for free in BlackBerry App World

RIM Hunts For iOS App Developers For Mysterious iPhone and iPad App

RIM is on the hunt for iOS developers to create apps for the iPhone and iPad, according to a job posting, with the possibility that the BlackBerry company intends to bring BBM to Apple’s hardware. Specific app details are not, unsurprisingly, given beyond the suggestion that RIM is looking for “exciting enterprise applications for distribution on the iOS platform” though there are a number of possibilities given the rise of the iPhone in business environments. 

More exciting, but perhaps less likely. Is a port of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) to its first non-BlackBerry platform, expanding RIM’s footprint onto the significant install-base of iOS users. That would run contrary to new CEO Thorsten Heins’ attitude to splitting up RIM’s “integrated solution“, however, with the chief exec arguing that it’s the joined up ecosystem that makes BlackBerry appealing.

RIM’s successful candidate will be “an experienced iOS/Objective-C developer capable of architecting, designing, developing and testing complex applications for iPhone and iPad devices” and with a track record of App Store content that can be demonstrated in interview.

BBM Music v1.2.0.13 Now Available In BlackBerry Beta Zone

 

A new build of BBM Music is now appearing in the BlackBerry Beta Zone. This release, pushes BBM Music into version 1.2.0.13 and actually brings along quite a few changes with it. Looking at the list, here's a short summery of what has been changed:

• Invitation Requests - Discovering similar musical tastes just got easier! When an invitation request is sent from a ‘friend of a friend’ through Recent Updates you will now be able to view songs and the common friend before accepting/declining an invitation. 
• ‘Favorite’ Songs and Contacts - You can now highlight songs or contacts as favorites in BBM Music 1.2! To favorite a song, you need to click on the star displayed in the top left hand corner while listening to a specific song. When the star is highlighted yellow, this will indicate the song as a “favorite” and you will now be able to access this song through “favorite songs” on your profile tab. Favorite songs will be displayed to your friends in Recent Updates For a favorite contact, when you visit a contact’s page you can select “favorite” from the top menu bar. This will add a highlighted yellow star beside the contact’s name in the contacts tab which will only be visible to you. You will now have the ability to search by “favorite”contacts within the contacts tab.
• Intelligent Shuffle - Intelligent shuffle offers you the ability to shuffle songs by favorite songs, genre, artist, song popularity, album, contact, release year or recently added. To access the intelligent shuffle, on the home tab click “shuffle” which will display the shuffle menu shown below.
• A Default Friend for all New Users - New users to BBM Music will now have a default friend listed as a contact.
• Application Enhancements - If you are an existing BBM Music user you will also notice improved notification for friends already using BBM Music, improved performance at startup and easier access to account information from the profile screen.

Download BBM Music v1.2.0.13

BlackBerry Curve 9320 To Feature a Dedicated BBM Button

This is a pretty sweet feature I didn't see coming. Just when we finished complaining about newer devices losing the left-side convenience key, it looks like RIM was actually listening (kind of). This leaked slide shows off the upcoming BlackBerry Curve 9320 and it's brand new features - a dedicated BBM button!! The button looks to be taking over where the left-side convenience key left off (we miss you little fella!) and will launch you straight into BBM. I'll admit, it does remind me a bit of the dedicated Facebook button the HTC Status, but hopefully this one will get put to good use. I would love to have this on my 9900.

Samsung Is Not Interested In Buying RIM, Nor Has RIM Approached Samsung To Discuss The Matter

Directly following up on the rumors of a Samsung acquisition of Research In Motion, Samsung has now come forward to lay down some official word on the matter. In speaking to Reuters, Samsung spokesman James Chung noted:

"We haven't considered acquiring the firm and are not interested in (buying RIM)," 

To address the news further, James Chung also noted that Research In Motion had not approached Samsung on the matter. Research In Motion stock saw a rise of over 10% with the news but with Samsung now confirming it to be nothing more than a rumor -- we'll see where the stock ends up.