BlackBerry's BBM goes cross-platform, but is it too little too late?
BlackBerry Messenger - the instant messaging software that took over from where ICQ, AOL Messenger and MSN Messenger left off - has announced it is to launch on Apple's iOS and Google's Android platforms this summer.
But it is being seen by some as yet another sign that BlackBerry is slow in its development.
The likes of WhatsApp and Skype have been cross-platform for a number of years and Facebook has itself just launched an updated version of its Facebook Messenger, which users can access on the go and on their desktop.
Tony Cripps, a devices and platforms analyst at Ovum, said:
BlackBerry claims that its customers send and receive more than 10 billion messages per day, a number similar to its main rival WhatsApp.
It also boasts of its 60 million active users, but compare that to Facebook's 750 million mobile users and it becomes apparent that BlackBerry has a lot of work to do to make its cross-platform offering work.
"BBM has always been one of the most engaging services for BlackBerry customers, enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy", Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President of Software Product Management and Ecosystem at BlackBerry, said.
"We’re excited to offer iOS and Android users the possibility to join the BBM community”, he added.
BlackBerry was at the forefront of mobile instant messaging when it launched BBM. As people shunned the computer in favour of mobile devices, their desire to have instant chat conversations with their friends increased.
BlackBerry was one of the first to allow users to do this on mobiles, meaning users no longer incurred the costs of a text message and giving users the ability to see when their message had been read.
But no one will forget BlackBerry's October 2011 crisis when the BBM service went offline for a number of days. Users were up in arms at their inability to contact friends in real-time.
The company was slow off the mark when it came to developing a device to rival Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy - launching the Z10 and Q10 earlier this year.
Its roll-out of BBM to other platforms is slow again.
Whether they can play catch up will remain to be seen, but for a company that was at the forefront of the instant messaging craze in its infancy, it will be kicking itself that it has taken this long to come up with an idea that others have been succeeding in and perfecting for many years now.