BBM, as we know, is the first ever messaging app which was specially designed for BlackBerry mobile users. But sadly it was announced by Emtek that we are losing this messaging app. It will be shut down on 31st May.
BBM users received a text which read “Time to say goodbye.” BlackBerry Messenger was launched in August 1st, 2005. And this had hiked up the market of Blackberry phones as people especially bought those for the messaging app.
But with increasing competition in the market and the launch of hundreds of free messaging apps, BBM was becoming irrelevant.
The company used a strategy to keep itself prominent in the market. In May 2013, the CEO of BlackBerry, Thorsten Heins declared that BBM will also be available on Play Store and Apple Store for android and IOS users.
Due to some fake, leaked versions and fake listing in Google Play Store, the launch date was postponed to October 21st, 2013.
Blackberry continued trying to sustain in the market by adding new features and stickers. Apart from Indonesia, which has the most BlackBerry messenger users, the other countries switched to more popular messaging apps.
Three years ago an Indonesian company, Emtek bought the licensing rights of this Messenger for a period of 6 years. It was a $207 million deal according to which the servers of the Blackberry Messenger were shifted from Canada to Asia.
But remember Emtek only bought the consumer version of the service, and the enterprise version was still owned by BlackBerry.
So blackberry has recently announced that the Blackberry Messenger Enterprise (BBMe) will be made available to individuals through Play Store and Apple Store for free for one year. Then it will be charged $2.49 for 6 months’ subscription.
Anyone who still wants to continue with BBM can shift to BBMe. The company made it clear that this is out of respect for the loyal BBM users and not under any obligation regarding the contract.
Whatever the reason maybe, BBM always gave us the nostalgic feeling and this is surely end of an era.
FP Source: via
