BBM is dead

By Staff Writer | 01 Jun 2019 at 22:38hrs
BBM
The consumer edition of BlackBerry Messenger, better known as BBM, was closed down for good on 31 May 2019.

The once popular instant messaging platform was launched on 1 August 2005 and was initially developed for BlackBerry devices.

It rapidly grew in popularity and in 2011 RIM claimed there were 43 million active BlackBerry Messenger users worldwide.

The smartphone environment started to change with iPhones and Android devices gaining in popularity, however.

BlackBerry held back the release of its iOS and Android versions of BBM as a way to protect its device sales.

After it started to lose market share to other messaging platforms, BBM was officially released on iOS and Android in October 2013.

Although it gained tremendous traction initially - with over 10 million downloads in the first day of release – it was too late as the tide had shifted in favour of WhatsApp.

BBM closed down

Emtek, which was developing BBM Consumer under licence from BlackBerry Limited, announced in April that the BBM consumer service will be closed on 31 May 2019.

The company said despite its substantial efforts, users have moved on to other platforms, while new users proved difficult to sign on.

"Though we are sad to say goodbye, the time has come to sunset the BBM consumer service, and for us to move on," Emtek said.

On 31 May BBM said it was the last day to use BBM and thanked users for their "support and memories that you have spent together with BBM".

The paid enterprise edition of the service, called BBM Enterprise, will continue to operate and be developed by BlackBerry Limited.

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