For those nostalgic users of the Blackberry Messenger of BBM, this may come as sad news as the messenger service will shut down by the end of next month. This announcement has come officially from the current Indonesian owner of the service, Emtek, in the form of a blogpost. The company has explained that despite its best efforts, the service could not be continued. There is, however, an alternate way to stay connected on BBM which is through an app called BBMe, the e standing for enterprise. For now, it is available only for Android phone users and iOS devices should also be able to download the app soon.
Blackberry messenger was first introduced in 2005. The height of its popularity was when the Blackberry devices were the status symbols among mobile phone users. Then the smartphones made the appearance and the sales of the Blackberry phones dropped steeply and the company kept changing its strategy before opting for Android as the OS. But Blackberry messenger service was acquired by Emtek in 2016 and tried expanding it offering a host of services. This is what the company has now explained in its blogpost, mentioning that it stays committed to the messenger service but its efforts at keeping the service alive have not been successful.
“The technology industry, however, is very fluid, and in spite of our substantial efforts, users have moved on to other platforms, while new users 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,” the blogpost states.
A service like WhatsApp is possibly more attractive to the customers and the membership base failed to record any increase and it has become an unviable operation. As indicated, the enterprise edition of the messenger, the BBMe has now been made available for personal use too.
For the record, May 31 will be the last day for the BBM to be officially available for use. Under the transition arrangement, the BBMe will be offered free for a year and post that a subscription fee of $2.49 per month becomes payable.