With the introduction of the BlackBerry phones, also came the feature of its instant messaging app, called BlackBerry Messenger, (BBM). In 2013, the service was made available to other smartphones too.
As at 2015, it said it had 140 million registered users on those non-BlackBerry device users, due to the release of its Android and iOS version.
Until 2013, it was the most popular messaging app, when WhatsApp, Facebook Messanger, and WeChat, broke the monopoly of instant messaging.
Recent indications have shown that the BBM app would get shut down by the company, (BlackBerry), on Friday, May 31, 2019, after more than a decade of operations.
Launched in 2005, by a Canadian enterprise known, then, as Research In Motion, the company, in a blog post, mentioned its efforts in trying to add the BBM Consumer Service, to give a broader option, than just a messaging app for a chat, but also providing a payment service.
A statement, coming from the company is quoted as saying that, “it has been written in the blog post that, every effort was made to make this platform extravagant so that more and more people joined it, but people joined the messaging app and now, it is difficult for BBM to run. The time has come to close the BBM Consumer Service. We are very sad to say goodbye.”
It should be noted that the only version of the app getting the shutdown, is the “regular” version. The enterprise version will still, be readily available, but it will come at a cost of $2.5 dollars subscription fee, every 6 months.
In 2016, licensing rights to BBM got acquired by Indonesia-based, Elang Mahkota Teknologi Tbk, (Emtek), that tried to revitalize the app with new features and services.
Its introduction to the market was, however, a failure, as it lacked the capacity to compete with other, more popular messaging services, currently running.
On shutting down the service by Emtek, users of the BBM service will no longer have access to view messages and other files, no longer able to keep stickers purchased with the service, although, they would still be able to download their preferred files, before the stated date of permanent shut down.
Featured Image: Crackberry
