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BlackBerry has no plans to bring BBM to Windows Phone, cites small market

BlackBerry has no plans to bring BBM to Windows Phone, cites small market

By Rohan Swamy | Updated: 20 January 2014 13:03 IST

Canadian mobile maker BlackBerry is said to have revealed recently that it does not have plans to launch the popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) app on Windows Phone-based smartphones.

Trusted Reviews quotes BlackBerry's Senior Director of BBM Business Development, David Proulx, as saying the nonexistence of a BBM application for Windows Phone was "entirely market driven," and stated that the decision is not a "religious thing," but is instead merely a choice made on the basis of a lack of consumer demand.

The comment makes it clear BlackBerry finds the demand for the app on Windows Phone has still not reached a point where they would need to consider developing it. Despite the release of the app on Android and iOS as a free-for-use messaging app, and it reaching almost 10 million downloads within 24 hours, BlackBerry is still some distance away from the Windows Phone app. Proulx added, "Our initial launch on iOS and Android was a function of the prevalence of those platforms."

(Also see: BlackBerry Messenger for iOS review)

While there has been reported confirmation from Proulx that there are no plans for now, he has not ruled out an app in the future. He says that there is a possibility of doing that once markets emerge. "As other platforms emerge, whichever they may be, we will execute on those platforms as well," he said. Justifying the stance further and the lack of support for the Microsoft OS, he said that it wasn't a statement of intent. "It's just a function of when does it make sense and when is it something that consumers demand in sufficient numbers to make it worth our while and worth their while."

Perhaps in hindsight, it might even make sense given that even though the Windows Phone platform has improved one day at a time, it has failed to attract top developers and application makers from across the globe, unlike the iOS and Android platforms. The Windows Phone platform in recent times however has seen a surge in its apps store, with the likes of WhatsApp, Vine and Instagram performing very well on the store since their respective releases. BlackBerry, on the other hand, has taken a wait and watch approach for the same.

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