While Android Gingerbread may slowly be slipping down the Android distribution charts, there are still a large number of devices, both old and new, that run this almost ancient version. For those users, BlackBerry has announced that they will soon get the new BlackBerry Messaging app to keep up with their BBM friends all over the world.
Android 2.3 might have once been the darling of device manufacturers, but it is giving way to Android Jelly Bean, albeit rather slowly. The last pie chart still shows this Android version as taking up 21.2 percent of all Android devices in the world, almost a quarter of the total. We’re not even just talking about old devices here but even some new ones released mid-2013.
BlackBerry says that it has received quite a clamor for making its BBM app for Android backwards compatible with the older Android generation. BlackBerry has heard their pleas and has been developing a special version just for Gingerbread users, particularly those running Android 2.3.3 and above. They are following some other app developers that have been keeping the previous generation in mind, including Vine who made the service similarly available last month, though only for viewing short videos and not for uploading them.
BlackBerry has not yet given an exact date when this version of its instant messaging app will be rolling out. For now, the company is still keeping BBM for Android Gingerbread under wraps but is already moving towards an external beta testing phase.
SOURCE: BlackBerry
That also ensures compatibility with the BlackBerry PlayBook, because it has compatibility with Android Gingerbread apps.
…almost certainly the kind of reasoning at play here. Unless, of course, the “clamor” came from the same invisible crowd that was begging for BBM in the first place…
At least everyone who got a PlayBook and was angered by not having BBM will be happy.
All ten of them.