Hasta La Gadget!

BlackBerry’s EVP of BBM, Andrew Bocking, has left the company, over what some sources claim are disagreements of how the messaging platform should integrate with the rest of the company. … Continue reading

BlackBerry continues to improve its now cross platform messaging service, BlackBerry Messenger, after opening it up for other platforms for the time time in history last year. Today an updated BBM for Android and iOS app has been announced which brings a new feature called Find Friends. This will allow users to easily find out which of their contacts are using BBM so they can send them a PIN invite. The feature is quite similar to what other cross platform messaging apps like WhatsApp offer, it too is capable of scanning through the users’ address book to find out which of their contacts are using its service.

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BBM For Android And iOS Gets Find Friends Feature original content from Ubergizmo.

BBM will soon be available for Android phones running Gingerbread. This is a shockingly brilliant move which allows BBM to fully compete in developing countries where BBM is already an established brand, but current smartphones are still running the legacy operating system.

As Chris points out at Engadget, despite being generations old, Android 2.1.x Gingerbread still powers 21% of Android phones. A lot of those devices are located in emerging markets where new messaging apps, like WhatsApp, Line, and Facebook Messenger, are quickly gaining in popularity. Recent numbers suggest that BlackBerry cannot count on consumers in these markets, or any market for that matter, to jump on the BBM ship by buying one of its smartphones, so the company is making it available on competitors’ hardware.

As the current version of BlackBerry sinks into obscurity, a new BlackBerry is emerging. For better or worse, this version seems a bit more lean and focused. Today’s update to BlackBerry OS 10 feels like a company clearing its current product pipe as it moves away from the cut-throat consumer hardware market.

A public beta will be released prior to the full launch in late February.

News is out today that BlackBerry has no intention of bringing a BlackBerry Messaging (BBM) application to Windows Phone. Comments published in TrustedReviews from the company indicate that it deems Windows Phone too small to warrant the investment. TechCrunch confirmed the statements.

According to TrustedReviews, BlackBerry’s David Proulx called the nonexistence of a BBM application for Windows Phone “entirely market driven,” and stated that the decision is not a “religious thing,” but is instead merely a choice made on the back (lack?) of consumer demand.

So, sorry Windows Phone fans, if you were pining for BBM, you must wait.

Might BlackBerry bring BBM to Windows Phone in the future? Yes, but only once Windows Phone reaches larger scale. In the words of Proulx, “as other platforms emerge, whichever they may be, we will execute on those platforms as well.” The question then becomes whether BlackBerry will still be around by the time that Windows Phone “emerges.”

This is playing as you would expect in the Windows Phone world. WMPowerUser was irked by the shade-tossing, for example:

Blackberry, who clearly has a knack for making friends, has confirmed it has no current interest or plans to bring their BBM app to Windows Phone, citing the size of the Windows Phone market.

Perhaps BlackBerry is saddened by the loss of its rank as the “third” mobile platform.

Top Image Credit: Flickr

At the moment, Android 4.4 KitKat is the latest version of Android at the moment, but at the same time chances are there are probably smartphone users out still running on older builds of Android. There can be a variety of reasons behind this, such as the decision not to change to a newer device because either it costs too much, or they really love their current device at the moment. Either way there are users out there who might be running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread or maybe even older, a possibility that we cannot discount, and it seems that it is a possibility that BlackBerry cannot discount either, especially given that Android 2.3 Gingerbread is still installed on about 21% of Android devices out there.

That also means there is a large audience out there who are unable to use BBM due to Gingerbread not meeting BlackBerry’s requirements, but it looks like BlackBerry is hoping to change that. In an email sent out by BlackBerry, they are currently seeking beta testers who might still have Android devices running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread to help test their BBM app. Of course there’s no telling how this might work out as Gingerbread might simply be too old to provide a good experience for the user, but either way it’s good to know that BlackBerry is trying nonetheless.

BlackBerry Might Be Considering BBM For Android 2.3 Gingerbread Devices original content from Ubergizmo.