14 DAY TRIAL // Research In Motion Co-CEO Jim Balsillie is said to have revealed plans to bring BlackBerry Messenger and "other services" to Apple’s iOS platform come April 26, via one or more releases through the Cupertino tech giant’s iTunes App Store.
A seemingly legit post spotted over at the MacRumors forums indicates that rumors of BBM coming to the iPhone are true
The author of the post, identified as “Rihanna,” wrote:
“RIM had a Social Media conference today in Toronto, and my entire college business and marketing class was invited to the event.
RIM's co-ceo Jim Balsillie revealed that they plan to bring BBM and "other services" to iPhone on April 26 via the app store.
Major news networks are expected to pick up on this very soon! Balsillie also revealed that they plan to release an update to the app this summer which will take advantage of a new "notification system"!!!”
The news echoes a BGR report published earlier this month, when the tech blog noted that Research In Motion was attempting to capitalize on the popularity of its IM client by releasing it on Android and iOS platforms.
The app is said to arrive with limited functionality, at least initially, in order to give strangers a first taste of the service.
At the time BGR quoted its sources as that RIM would initially deploy BBM on Android, with the iOS release soon to follow, RIM had reportedly not yet finalized the deals with Goggle and Apple.
This left a big question mark hovering over the launch date and pricing, but now it seems the details are coming to light, one at a time.
Should these rumors hold water, we can expect Android users to start downloading the app in the days leading up to the alleged April 26 iOS launch, by which time we will (likely) know the pricing and key features of the service.
Update: A Brodeur PR representative has denied these rumors on behalf of RIM and told us that "RIM did not hold a conference in Toronto this week and Jim Balsillie did not speak at any event in Toronto this week".