WATERLOO – The consumer version of BlackBerry Messenger will reach its end of life next month, but an enterprise version will live on.
In a blog post on Thursday, Emtek, the company who has been running the instant messaging app for the last three years, said that it will be closing BBM consumer service on May 31st.
“…we are proud of what we have built to date,” reads the post. “The technology industry however, is very fluid, and in spite of our 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.”
In response, BlackBerry said that the enterprise version of the app, known as BBMe, will continue and be available for individual use, a decision that it said “was made out of BlackBerry's respect for loyal BBM users and was not a contractual obligation”.
“While we respect Emtek's decision, we're disappointed the platform did not thrive and grow as expected," said BlackBerry CMO Mark Wilson, in a statement. "After much consideration, we decided that BBM's loyal users should continue to have a secure messaging platform that they can trust."
Users may download BBMe from Android's Google Play store now and from the Apple App Store soon. BBMe will be available free for the first year and a six month subscription will be available for USD $2.49 following that.
BBMe can be downloaded on any device that uses Android, iOS, Windows or MAC operating systems. Users can conduct group chats, voice and video calls, as well as edit, retract, or set an expiration time on a single message. They'll also know when a message is received and read, and have the ability to share files, voice notes, and their location. BBMe for individual use can be used on up to five devices simultaneously.
