We’ve known BlackBerry has been planning to offer BBM on rival platforms for quite some time. Now that services like WhatsApp, iMessage and Kik are dominating the messaging world, BBM will finally expand beyond the BlackBerry platform. BlackBerry on Tuesday announced that BBM will launch this summer for Apple’s iPhone and for Android devices. The announcement came during the company’s Blackberry Live conference and details are limited thus far, though BlackBerry did confirm that messaging services and the new BlackBerry Channels service will both be supported by BBM for iOS and Android.

Zach Epstein has worked in and around ICT for more than 15 years, first in marketing and business development with two private telcos, then as a writer and editor covering business news, consumer electronics and telecommunications. Zach’s work has been quoted by countless top news publications in the US and around the world. He was also recently named one of the world's top-10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes, as well as one of Inc. Magazine's top-30 Internet of Things experts.