BlackBerry today announced that the latest version of BBM for Android and iPhone is landing on Google Play and the Apple App Store today with BBM Voice and BBM Channels in tow. The update will allow Android and iPhone users to, like their BlackBerry counterparts, make free calls to their BBM contacts over Wi-Fi or a data connection and join Channels to chat about common topics with other BBM users.
BBM Channels, already a feature available on the BlackBerry versions of BBM, lets almost anyone create a custom channel that lets users sharing that particular interest chat and exchange information. BBM Channels also supports “scheduled chat hours” making it easy to set up times to have live chats and subscribers don’t need to add the Channel as a contact, giving them a degree of privacy.
“BBM continues to deliver new functionality as a premier messaging platform that provides a simple and effective way to stay connected. Today’s announcement gives Android and iPhone customers the rich experience of BBM Voice and BBM Channels – two great ways to connect with friends, family and colleagues, to build out communities around shared interests, and to follow your favorite people and brands,” said John Sims, President, Global Enterprise Solutions at BlackBerry. “BBM continues to quickly evolve as a social mobile platform for consumers as well as for business customers through innovative features that give you great new ways to connect and share with each other.”
Other features included in BBM 2.0 are:
- Location sharing: To allow one or several BBM contacts to see a user’s real-time location for a specified amount of time
- Built-in support for Dropbox
- More than 100 new emoticons
A new version of BBM for BlackBerry 10, version 10.3, will also be released.
Source : BlackBerry