BlackBerry’s BBM instant messenger service landed on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems on Monday and the company says the app has already been downloaded 5 million times in first 8 hours.
The company announced the achievement in a Twitter post that alerted the “next 5 million” people that their turn to download the app was at hand.
Many users were just facing Spot in line, though the company claims but many reported no email received by black berry, some speculate it’s the perfect rival for whatsapp the app. What goes up always come down.
BlackBerry instituted a phased roll-out that tapped a reservation system promising to “hold your spot in line” and send an e-mail when those who downloaded the app could start using the service. BlackBerry said 6 million people signed up for information about the release on BBM.com.
The long-awaited apps were supposed to debut last month, but the launch was delayed after an Android version apparently not intended for release was leaked online before BlackBerry could get the official one out. BlackBerry said the unintended launch caused issues that the company needed to resolve.
Demand for the app stands in contrast to the common opinion that BlackBerry is completely on the ropes. Although sales of the beleaguered company’s BlackBerry 10 devices have been lackluster and although the company has entered into an agreement to sell itself off, the app persists as a popular messaging platform.
