BBM app for Android and iOS won’t support tablets initially
Head of BlackBerry software portfolio reveals that the BBM app is for now exclusively focussed on smartphones.
The BBM app for iOS and Android won’t run on tablets as revealed by the head of BlackBerry Software portfolio. Vivek Bharadwaj told TrustedReviews that the company has exclusively focused on smartphones running iOS 6 and Android 4.0 or above for their BBM app to be launched on these platforms this summer. “Smartphone is our real focus and again it comes back to what BBM is. If you look [at] BBM and the engagement and the activity, it’s because it is mobile, because people are on the go,” Bhardwaj said.
This would mean that iPad and Android tablet owners will be devoid of a BBM app that supports their platforms. However, there still might be hope for the BBM app on larger screens for the future, Bharadwaj said, ” I think when you look at things like Smart TVs and desktops, those are definitely areas for exploration.”
The cross-platform BlackBerry Messenger support was announced on Tuesday. Expanding the BBM support across all major platforms has been a strategy that is being deployed as the BlackBerry OS is no longer a dominant force, dropping from third to fourth place in IDC’s recent worldwide smartphone OS market share report, ousted by Windows Phone.
Hence, BlackBerry has finally come alive if they are to survive in this mobile war. They have come to realise the fact that they need to form new bonds and learn to play the game with the two supreme powers if they are to carry on and live through.