Bangalore: BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins has revealed that the popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service will be made a cross platform application for iOS and Android devices.

Though Heins has stated this with confidence, ‘bragging’ about the company’s success with Smartphones as Forbes reports, BlackBerry is no longer the ‘titan’ it once was. A problem that BBM holds is the reduction in number of users for BlackBerry to chat with via BBM. The company also has strong rivals like Whatsapp Skype and Facebook.

But now with the cross platform product, users will have plenty of iOS and Android users to get in touch with. According to BlackBerry’s blog spot, first versions of Android and iOS apps will include features like Live BBM chats, Multi-person chats, Voice note sharing and BlackBerry groups wherein BBM users can make groups up to 30 people and share calendar, pictures and files.

Regarding BBM’s popularity, BlackBerry claims that the app has more than 60 million active users. There are more than 51 million active users connecting with peers and friends at an average of one and a half hours every day. More than 10 million messages are sent and received every day. According to BlackBerry, this is ‘nearly twice’ as many messages for each user per day compared to other messaging apps.

However, a possible risk for the company would be the loss of customers. Users who prefer BBM can switch to other Android and iOS Smartphones to use the app. On the other hand, some users may stick on to their BlackBerry Smartphones as they feel that the BBM app has just got more useful.

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