The time has finally arrived. It’s time to say goodbye to the BlackBerry Messenger (Yes, the BBM!). The once famous BBM is finally shutting down on May 31st. BBM has been an important part of many millennials, businessmen and people who have used a BlackBerry phone.
The fall of BlackBerry Messenger
It was once considered to be cool to add your friends using a code made of numbers and letters. Before many of the famous apps of today even launched, BlackBerry Messenger was one of the best options for instant messaging. However, things changed with a few wrong moves taken by the company.
Emtek, the company which took over the development of BlackBerry Messenger said in a blog post,
We poured our hearts into making this a reality, and we are proud of what we have built to date. The technology industry however, is very fluid, and in spite of our substantial efforts, users have moved on to other platforms. New users also 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.
We are grateful for your support and wish to thank everyone, especially our users, partners, and employees, for being part of the BBM consumer service journey. We hope you will cherish many fond memories of BBM consumer service that helped shape messenger platforms to become what they are today.
The BlackBerry messenger was exclusive to BlackBerry OS for a long time. In 2013, BlackBerry launched BBM on iOS and later it launched for Android. But by then, cross-platform messaging apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, etc had taken over.
BBMe: Keep Using BBM
Although Emtek is shutting down BBM consumer edition, the enterprise edition named BBMe will function as normal. If you’re really nostalgic or want to keep using BBM then you can download BBMe from the App Store and Play Store. However, there is a $2.49 subscription for 6 months after the initial first year of free usage with BBMe.
Also read: Whatsapp launches TV campaign in India to Fight Fake News.
