BBM a hit with Android and iPhone users

Android and iPhone and iPad lovers are now finally able to use BBM for their devices.

BBM, the popular chat feature which was previously only available on BlackBerry devices, became an app for both Apple and Android products this week.

The result? More than 10 million downloads in the first 24 hours as people flocked to get the feature. 

The only problem is there is such a mass rush to download the BBM app, it is taking up to 24 hours for it to become functional on devices.

Afton Cabral told the Bermuda Sun: “I couldn’t wait for the BBM download for my android as with my mother living in Scotland she herself has a BlackBerry device as she doesn’t need a fancy iPhone or Android .

“I couldn’t wait to be able to send my mom messages and keep in contact with her on a daily basis rather than through e-mail or expensive long distance calls. and with BBM I can tell if she has read it. 

“I also like the voice note feature of BBM which is great as I can quickly record my message and send it instead of typing something that might not make sense in text form. 

“I am also sending her pictures instantly which is great. 

“I missed BBM mostly because of the fact I don’t have to give my number out to people and only use a PIN — I don’t like to give my number out to people and this is just more private.”

Jasmine Smith told the Bermuda Sun: “I downloaded it because I missed BBM. BlackBerries as a whole were being taken over by Samsungs and iPhones, so it was time to move on but I was so not happy about losing BBM. Even though I already knew about Whatsapp — I have a galaxy S4 — I like that there is no “online” or “last seen” function, and messages are only read once going into the conversation. A lot less drama comes out of that.”

She said it took over 24 hours for the BBM app to become available for use after downloading it.

Andrew Bocking, executive vice president at BBM, posted on the company’s blog: “It’s been 24 hours since we resumed the launch of BBM for Android and iPhone. And what a day it’s been! We’ve already had more than 10 million downloads of BBM.

“When we saw almost one million people install an unreleased version of the Android version, another million use workarounds to download BBM onto their iPhones and another six million people pre-register to know when BBM became available for iPhone and Android, we knew we were on to something huge,” he noted.”