BlackBerry Delays Highly Anticipated Release of Messenger System on Rival Operating Systems
When people think about popular phone operating systems, only a few usually come to mind. Right now the biggest are iOS and Android. That being said, the Windows phone operating system is making a name for itself as well. However, one name has gotten kind of a bad rap lately, and that is BlackBerry.
Although BlackBerry phones are not that popular anymore, the company still makes them. One thing that people have always loved about BlackBerry is its messenger system. Most people that still use a BlackBerry due so because of its messenger system. So when people heard that Blackberry is rolling this out to rival operating system, lots of people who had already switched from BlackBerry got excited.
Some say that this roll out will mark the end of BlackBerry and that once people can get this messenger system on another operating system, there will no longer be a need to make its own phones. Whether this is the case or not, it is happening. The problem is that no one knows for sure when it will happen. This is because BlackBerry has delayed the rollout.
BlackBerry announced the delay after an unreleased version of its BlackBerry Messenger system was uploaded to the Internet somehow. This included both its Android and iOS versions of the app. Right away, this unreleased version saw more than 1.1 million downloads in the first eight hours before it was taken down. BlackBerry’s official statement is that it took down the unreleased version because it was causing issues with phones. That being said, BlackBerry would not say just what those issues were.
There is some good news; at least it is good news for those who are using the iOS version of BlackBerry Messenger. The company said that anyone who uses the app on an iOS device can continue to use it for now. It will release an update for the program in the near future. That being said, the Android version of this messenger service is being disabled. No word has been given yet as to when it will release the Android version of the app. BlackBerry just said that people can look for updates on its website.
BlackBerry is apparently having problems, and it needs to get people interested in its name again. One way to do this might be to release its most popular apps on other operating systems. This could get people interested in BlackBerry again and bring in a little extra income. Either way, BlackBerry announced just last week that it is cutting 4,500 jobs. This is a last resort to try to get the company out of the red.