The last quarter of 2013 was a bit of a renaissance for BlackBerry, at least as far as its BlackBerry Messaging service is concerned. Now the company is looking forward to 2014 to expand BBM for Android and, hopefully, their users.
BlackBerry launched its BBM Channels feature last month as a way to strike up a conversation with random strangers. BBM Channels revolve around conversations or threads abut particular topics or themes. BBM users, even those who aren’t in your contact list, are free to join in on the conversation. Pretty much like an online forum, but done the BBM way. BBM Channels will be appearing on the BBM app for Android next year.
Also coming to the Android app will be support for BBM Voice, which will allow BBM contacts to call each other for free anywhere in the world. In addition, BBM will also have the ability to send more than just text messages with the addition of support for sharing photos, push-to-talk voice notes, and even sharing your location for a limited time only. With the addition of these features on all supported platforms, this pretty much brings BBM up to par with other popular messaging services.
Add this to the fact that BBM will come pre-installed on some select Android devices, starting with the LG G Pro Lite, it looks like BBM will have a rather interesting future ahead. Perhaps just the kind of future that BlackBerry needs.
SOURCE: BlackBerry
