[anon(1464249)]

Source: BlackBerry reveals when to expect BBM for Windows Phone - Neowin

Last month, at the unveiling of its first Android handsets, Nokia announced that it had successfully negotiated with BlackBerry to bring that company's BlackBerry Messenger app to Windows Phone.

Prior to that, BlackBerry had given no indication that it was even interested in launching software for Windows Phone, the rival platform that has pushed it into fourth place in the smartphone market. Indeed, as recently as January, the company reiterated that it had "no plans" for Microsoft's mobile OS.

Now, though, those plans are very much in the works, but the exact release date remains ambiguous. The latest information, which comes via TechCrunch, was revealed by BlackBerry CEO John Chen in a company earnings call this week. Chen said that the app is targeted for "Fiscal Q2" - the second quarter in the company's fiscal year - indicating that it could arrive as early as May 2014, or as late as July.

Chen also said that BBM will be pre-loaded onto Nokia X Android handsets and certain Lumia devices in selected markets, once BBM finally launches on Windows Phone.

[jaydee5799]

Interesting news. Thanks for the info and the link.

[Foreverup]

If it BlackBerry it will be late Q2

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[the_game969]

So July it is...

Powered by BlackBerry!

[eldricho]

I really hope Chen can surprise everyone and bring it out in May, thus upping the BlackBerry reliability a little

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[Raz_Ka_me LozHuevoz]

I think BBM for Windows phone is a great step to getting it on PC.

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[JeepBB]

Ho-Hum, I guess BBM coming to WinPhone in a few months is better news than it not coming at all ... But I'm not convinced many WinPhone users will care. WinPhone isn't short of IM Apps to choose from and they're well-established with many (very many!) users that will need to be convinced that BBM has some killer-feature to cause them to switch. And, any that might be interested in BBM will have read of the much-publicised "issues" with BBM on iOS.

It's probably more important for BB than it is for WP users as it will mean BBM can then truly claim to be a cross-platform messenger like WhatsApp and the others.

Guess we'll see what the late Summer brings.

[propeller10]

Ho-Hum, I guess BBM coming to WinPhone in a few months is better news than it not coming at all ... But I'm not convinced many WinPhone users will care. WinPhone isn't short of IM Apps to choose from and they're well-established with many (very many!) users that will need to be convinced that BBM has some killer-feature to cause them to switch. And, any that might be interested in BBM will have read of the much-publicised "issues" with BBM on iOS.

It's probably more important for BB than it is for WP users as it will mean BBM can then truly claim to be a cross-platform messenger like WhatsApp and the others.

Guess we'll see what the late Summer brings.

Actually it is one of the most requested features by Wp USERS.

[Thesmartmale]

Ho-Hum, I guess BBM coming to WinPhone in a few months is better news than it not coming at all ... But I'm not convinced many WinPhone users will care. WinPhone isn't short of IM Apps to choose from and they're well-established with many (very many!) users that will need to be convinced that BBM has some killer-feature to cause them to switch. And, any that might be interested in BBM will have read of the much-publicised "issues" with BBM on iOS.

It's probably more important for BB than it is for WP users as it will mean BBM can then truly claim to be a cross-platform messenger like WhatsApp and the others.

Guess we'll see what the late Summer brings.

Lol, you talk about Windows phone as if you're talking about IOS, Windows phone is still missing on a ton of apps, a lot of IOS and Android users use BBM now ( almost 55 million) and they have more IM apps than Windows phone so yeah I think more Windows phone users will go to BBM as soon as it's out

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[JeepBB]

Lol, you talk about Windows phone as if you're talking about IOS, Windows phone is still missing on a ton of apps, a lot of IOS and Android users use BBM now ( almost 55 million) and they have more IM apps than Windows phone so yeah I think more Windows phone users will go to BBM as soon as it's out

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Chen said a few weeks ago that BBM's active subscribers numbered 85M, a small growth from the 80M he'd mentioned before. I've also seen him quoted as saying that the BB user base remains above 60M.

So, after doing a little sum, that would surely indicate that active Android/iOS BBM users number around 25M, not 55M?

Yes, WinPhone doesn't have the ecosystem of Apple/Android but it does, as I mentioned, already have a number of IM Apps. In the Summer, those other IM Apps will be joined by a BBM App with a feature set that will need to demonstrate a convincing reason for WinPhone users to switch away from one of the other IM Apps. I guess we'll see.

Hopefully, the WinPhone version of BBM will work better than the iOS version.

[Thesmartmale]

Chen said a few weeks ago that BBM's active subscribers numbered 85M, a small growth from the 80M he'd mentioned before. I've also seen him quoted as saying that the BB user base remains above 60M.

So, after doing a little sum, that would surely indicate that active Android/iOS BBM users number around 25M, not 55M?

Yes, WinPhone doesn't have the ecosystem of Apple/Android but it does, as I mentioned, already have a number of IM Apps. In the Summer, those other IM Apps will be joined by a BBM App with a feature set that will need to demonstrate a convincing reason for WinPhone users to switch away from one of the other IM Apps. I guess we'll see.

Hopefully, the WinPhone version of BBM will work better than the iOS version.

Did I say ACTIVE subscribers? Just like Whatsapp says 500 million subscribers even though not all of them are active, BBM has 115 million subscribers and as you said BlackBerry has 60M so I might be correct after all

Yeah hope it works better, even though I had no trouble with the IOS app.

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[JeepBB]

Did I say ACTIVE subscribers? Just like Whatsapp says 500 million subscribers even though not all of them are active, BBM has 115 million subscribers and as you said BlackBerry has 60M so I might be correct after all

Yeah hope it works better, even though I had no trouble with the IOS app.

If you aren't an active user of an App, then IMO you aren't really a user of that App. I have dozens of Apps on my phones and computers that I downloaded out of casual interest, used a few times, and now don't. I rarely remove the Apps I don't use because modern gadgets have so much storage so that housekeeping is unnecessary.

I also have a gym membership. Just having that membership card in my wallet doesn't keep me fit. I have to actually go to the gym and be active for it to count.

Chen understands that distinction, which is why he quoted the 85M active BBM user figure.

[Thesmartmale]

If you aren't an active user of an App, then IMO you aren't really a user of that App. I have dozens of Apps on my phones and computers that I downloaded out of casual interest, used a few times, and now don't. I rarely remove the Apps I don't use because modern gadgets have so much storage so that housekeeping is unnecessary.

I also have a gym membership. Just having that membership card in my wallet doesn't keep me fit. I have to actually go to the gym and be active for it to count.

Chen understands that distinction, which is why he quoted the 85M active BBM user figure.

So if anyone in Crackberry says Whatsapp has 500M users I should tell them what you just told me?

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[Gerii]

So, after doing a little sum, that would surely indicate that active Android/iOS BBM users number around 25M, not 55M?

When they had 80 million BlackBerry users, 60 million of them used BBM. So the number of active Android/iOS users should be around 40-45 million.

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[birdman_38]

So July it is...

Yup, July 31st.

Would be cool if they have BBM Video for all four platforms by then.

[Rello]

I'm worried about its growth. Only 5 million active users added in a quarter. Hopefully coming to WP will improve the situation

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[Omnitech]

Ho-Hum, I guess BBM coming to WinPhone in a few months is better news than it not coming at all ... But I'm not convinced many WinPhone users will care. WinPhone isn't short of IM Apps to choose from and they're well-established with many (very many!) users that will need to be convinced that BBM has some killer-feature to cause them to switch.

If BBM is such a yawner for the WP platform and its users, why isn't Microsoft/Nokia planning on bundling those apps on their devices instead of BBM?

We know one thing: it's certainly not because BlackBerry is giving Microsoft billions of dollars to do it.

[Nharzhool]

If BBM is such a yawner for the WP platform and its users, why isn't Microsoft/Nokia planning on bundling those apps on their devices instead of BBM?

We know one thing: it's certainly not because BlackBerry is giving Microsoft billions of dollars to do it.

Well BBM on WP8 is what is going to push me to actually grabbing one to mess around with (or just for Here Maps).