BBM for Android, iOS finally here: Will rollout be seamless this time?

New York: After the failed launch of its BlackBerry Messenger for the Android and iOS platforms, its looks almost certain that the distraught company will be rolling out its popular BBM services for these platforms anytime now.

Its cross-platform BlackBerry Messenger launch was originally slated for September 21 for Android and September 22 for the iOS platforms, but both launches were aborted thanks to a leaked apk BBM file that hit Android hours before the official launch.

Blackberry’s official blog today announced that the company was about to officially resume the rollout of BBM for Android and iPhone customers around the globe and people will start seeing the app in Google’s Play store, the App Store and in select Samsung App Stores in few hours. The BBM app will be free to download.

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[caption id=“attachment_1185445” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Those who want to download BBM from the website can also do so by visiting BBM.com from their Android or iPhone browser. Reuters[/caption]

The company has said that the demand for BBM on Android and on the iPhone continues, despite its aborted launch.

“About six million people signed up for information about BBM at BBM.com. As you know, in just seven hours, about one million Android users were using the unreleased version of BBM for Android,” the blog said, adding that more than one million people had found creative ways to “side load” BBM on their iPhone.

While the app can be downloaded from Google’s Play store, with the official version called BBM by Blackberry, the company is suggesting downloading it from the website BBM.com, visiting it from their Android or iPhone browsers. After the app is installed and opened the user will need to enter their email address. The user can then start using the app after BlackBerry email them indicating that they have rached the front of the waiting line.

The blog has said, “If you are among the millions that took the time to sign up at BBM.com, you can start using BBM immediately without waiting in line. If you didn’t sign up in advance, don’t worry - we are focused on moving millions of customers through the line as fast as possible.”

About seven hours before the official release of the BBM for Android on September 21, a leaked apk file of BBM was out. The leaked file had over a million downloads in just seven hours. However, this unreleased version caused issues, which the company was trying to address.

Anytime now, we will know whether the earlier issues were resolved and what additional work its team has done on the BBM app to make its rollout more seamless this time.