BlackBerry Messenger to Launch on iOS and Android

Today at BlackBerry Live, CEO Thorsten Heins announced BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) will soon be available on Android and iOS.  The messaging app will launch globally this summer (for free).  There is no doubt that this is a huge move for BlackBerry as it brings BB10′s strongest feature to literally hundreds of millions of potential users.

“It is a state of confidence,” Heins explained. “The BB10 platform is so strong and the response has been so good that the time is right for BBM to become an independent mobile messaging platform.”

Which is a really odd thing to say in my opinion.  Nonetheless, Heins went on to say, “We’re starting with messaging and groups, but we’ll bring voice, screen share, and of course, channels later on.”

The question now is will it make a difference?  And will the difference be good or bad? This could potentially put the final nail in the BlackBerry coffin, as now that there’s really no need to have a BlackBerry anymore (I’m convinced many people stuck with BlackBerry solely for BBM).  Of course, if BlackBerry dies, BBM probably dies with it.  I guess we’ll see.