BBM For Android & iOS Hits 5 Million Downloads In Just 8 Hours

BBM-iPhone

Who cares?

That’s the question I was asked time and time again when I told people that BBM was coming to Android and iOS. But it seems a lot of people care. In fact, when BBM finally made its cross-platform debut yesterday, the app was downloaded over 5 million times in just eight hours.

Because BlackBerry isn’t in a great place right now, and BlackBerry devices are no longer “cool,” most people assume no one uses BBM anymore. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The service still has 60 million users worldwide, and it’s still considered one of the best instant messaging platforms there is — especially now that it’s no longer exclusive to BlackBerry handsets.

But with the likes of WhatsApp, Line, and Viber already doing so well, do we really need BBM on Android and iOS?

Yes! Another option doesn’t hurt, and lots of people who use Android and iOS devices may wish to communicate with friends who still own BlackBerry handsets with BBM. What’s more, a lot of Android and iOS users may have had BlackBerry devices before they switched, and they now have the ability to reconnect with their old BBM contacts.

Maybe a large number of the 5 million people who downloaded BBM yesterday will never use it — they just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. But BBM will certainly be popular on rival platforms. It may even outlive BlackBerry.