“The firm is having to reinvent itself and whether that will be by focusing on software, monetising BBM, licensing its products or joint ventures is not yet clear. “It could even cost it money,” said Mr Green.

Offering it to a wider public will not make any money for the company. It will be available for Android from Saturday and for iOS from Sunday.”With more than a billion Android, iOS and Blackberry smartphones in the market, and no dominant mobile messaging platform this is absolutely the right time to bring BBM to Android and iPhone customers,” said Andrew Bocking, vice-president for BBM in a blogpost.īBM has been described as Blackberry’s “crown jewels” and the service hit a chord with a mass consumer audience. “Offering it across other platforms broadens the appeal of BBM,” he added.īBM will be available for Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean while iPhones running iOS 6 or iOS 7 can also download it. This is as good a move as any,” said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group Europe. “Blackberry is having a tough time, sales are down, it is losing market to Windows phones and it needs to do something to stop the rot. Widening the appeal of BBM could be a clever way for the company to reinvent itself, said experts.

The move comes as the Wall Street Journal reports that Blackberry will lay off 40% of its staff before 2014. Blackberry has confirmed BBM will be available as a free download for Apple and Android devices but not for Windows phones. From this weekend, users will no longer need to own a Blackberry device to access its BBM messaging service.

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