BlackBerry says its “teams are
working non-stop” to fix the
botched BlackBerry Messenger
(BBM) for Android and iPhone
launch that was scheduled last
weekend. “We will provide you an
update on timing as soon as we
can,” says the latest tweet on the
official BBM Twitter account
(@BBM). The much-awaited global
rollout of BlackBerry’s BlackBerry
Messenger (BBM) app for Android
and iPhone was stopped by
BlackBerry citing technical issues.
While the BBM for iPhone rollout
began on schedule on Sunday from
New Zealand and also was available
to Indian users, the Android app’s
availability kept on getting delayed.
BBM for Android was scheduled to
arrive on the Google Play Store at
4:30 PM IST (7 AM EDT) on
Saturday. After more than 12 hours
of BBM for Android’s scheduled
availability time, Inside BlackBerry,
the official BlackBerry blog, put the
blame for the delay on “an
unreleased version of the BBM for
Android app” that was posted
online. According to BlackBerry,
“more than 1.1 million active users
in the first 8 hours without even
launching the official Android app.”
BlackBerry says it was the user
eagerness in getting BBM on their
non-BlackBerry phones that led to
some issues. “Consequently, this
unreleased version caused issues,
which we have attempted to
address throughout the day,” the
post by BlackBerry’s Business Social
Media Manager Luke Reimer said.
As a result the unreleased Android
app will be disabled and BlackBerry
has stopped, for now, the global
roll-out of BBM for Android and
iPhone. Those who have
downloaded the BBM for iPhone
from the Apple App Store, will
however be able to continue to use
BBM. For now, the BBM for Android
and iPhone has been put on hold
until further notice but no new
availability date and time has yet
been provided.
“These issues have not impacted
BBM service for BlackBerry,”
BlackBerry assures. The BBM launch
debacle is only the latest in the long
list of recent BlackBerry woes. The
Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry,
once Canada’s premier technology
company, said it expects to book a
$930 million to $960 million
writedown in its fiscal second
quarter owing to a ballooning
stockpile of unsold BlackBerry Z10
devices. BlackBerry had bet much of
its future on the popularity of the
Z10 touchscreen device – the first of
the smartphones to be powered by
its new BlackBerry 10 operating
system. While the device drew
favorable reviews, it has failed to
gain traction among consumers since
its introduction earlier this year. For
the second quarter, the company
expects to have sold about 3.7
million BlackBerry smartphones to
end users. The company, which had
warned that job cuts were in the
offing, plans to shed 4,500 jobs.
BlackBerry has already undergone a
major round of job cuts over the last
12 months. It employed 12,700
people as of March, and once had
close to 20,000 employees.
BlackBerry is also considering
putting itself up for sale.
The BlackBerry board has formed a
special committee to explore
“strategic alternatives” in hopes of
enhancing the company’s value and
boosting adoption of its BlackBerry
10 platform. The company said its
options could also include joint
ventures, partnerships, or other
moves. The BlackBerry, pioneered
in 1999, had been the dominant
smartphone for on-the-go business
people and other consumers before
Apple debuted the iPhone in 2007
and showed that phones can handle
much more than email and phone
calls. In the years since, BlackBerry
has since been hammered by
competition from the iPhone as well
as Android-based rivals.
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