BlackBerry is making its smartphone messaging service BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) available on Google's Android and Apple's iPhone from this weekend - marking a radical shift for the company which once relied on BBM's exclusivity to sell phones.
The releases will be the first time that BBM, the original non-SMS-based phone messaging service, has been available on a non-BlackBerry phone.
BBM was a crucial tool for attracting and retaining users on BlackBerry's platform. The company's subscribers peaked at 80m around September 2012 but since then have declined to around 70m.
But there are questions over whether the release is too late. In the past three years other cross-platform messaging apps and services such as WhatsApp - which recently reported that it has more than 250m users and was processing over 8bn inbound and 12bn outbound messages a day - have sprung up in direct competition to BBM.
"The phone messaging market is a very crowded space at the moment, with big services like Google Hangouts, Line, WhatsApp, and even [Apple's] iMessage available," said Ben Wood, mobile analyst with research firm CCS Insight.
Google's own Hangouts instant messaging service also offers text and video calling for Android and iPhone and computer, while iMessage offers similar functionality between the iPhone, iPad and Mac.
One of BBM's key differentiators on the BlackBerry platform has been screen sharing between users, allowing the shared viewing of photos, documents or webpages directly in the app. BlackBerry hasn't said whether screen sharing will be available to the Android and iPhone BBM apps.
BlackBerry says the apps for Android and iPhone will support file sharing, group messaging of up to 30 friends, and the sending of voice notes.
"BBM is a very engaging messaging service that is simple to use, easy to personalize and has an immediacy that is necessary for mobile communications," said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President for BBM at BlackBerry. "With more than a billion Android, iOS, and BlackBerry smartphones in the market, and no dominant mobile messaging platform, this is absolutely the right time to bring BBM to Android and iPhone customers."
With BlackBerry's business under increasing stress as rival smartphone makers squeeze it out, and with the board examing the possibility of selling the business as it aims to cut costs further, a strong start for BBM on other platforms could be key to its longer-term survival as a business unit.
BBM will be available as a free download for Android smartphones running Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean (Android 4.x) beginning at 7AM EDT on 21 September. BBM for iPhones running iOS 6 and iOS 7 will become available for each market on the App Store schedule of 12:01 AM local time on 22 September.
"When BlackBerry announced that it would be making BBM available on other platforms in May, the general consensus was that it would represent an escape route for BlackBerry users wanting to switch platforms," said Wood. "Now, however, the release is more about creating viable services to support BlackBerry's business, as its hardware business is failing."
The UK is a stronghold for Blackberry, which accounted for 9.3% of all smartphones shipped in the the country during the first half of 2013, according to data collected by market-research company IDC. In the US and world markets, though, its share of new sales has fallen to less than 3%.
"It'll be fascinating to see if they can get traction with BBM on Android and iPhone. I suspect they'll be banking on existing BBM users convincing their friends to use the new apps," Wood added. "It could be very attractive to BlackBerry users or people who have recently switched platforms. If BlackBerry users can convince just one or two friends on other platforms to use BBM, BlackBerry could end up with a user base that rivals WhatsApp," he said.
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