Preinstalled BBM, free voice calls on iPhone and Android

 

For all BBM fans out there, here’s some good news. First, as you might have guessed, BBM for Android and iPhone has been downloaded tens of millions of times. This means that BlackBerry is now ready to roll out the next feature – BBM Voice for iPhone and Android – in 2014. And it’s been confirmed by none other than Sean Hungerford, head of Product Management for BBM.
“We haven’t slowed down since launching BBM for iPhone and Android in October and BBM Channels for BlackBerry 10 and BBOS in November. We’ve been working on some new ways to make it faster and easier to share with your BBM contacts. Whether it’s talking with BBM Voice, connecting over a BBM Channel, sending a quick photo, or even sharing your location, there’s more to BBM than just chatting,” he wrote on the official BlackBerry blog

Top of the list is BBM for iPhone and Android. “Or as I like to say, free voice calls to any BBM contact anywhere in the world,” writes Hungerford. “Just another way that BBM helps to bring you together with people when you can’t be there in person – without having to pay long distance charges,” he noted. Great! So when is it coming? He’s not saying, but since it’s coming 2014, we can wait another few months, if it comes to that.
The BBM experience will continue to evolve for Android and iPhone users in the coming months, the company claims, with updates that will include support for BBM Channels, a new service that connects BBM users to communities of shared interests in a very engaging and intimate manner, as well as support for BBM Video calling.
In a separate, but related, development, the first (non-BlackBerry) smartphone to offer out-of-the-box will be LG’s G Pro Lite.
“BBM will soon come preinstalled on the LG G Pro Lite from LG Electronics Inc. in markets around the world,” the firm said yesterday in a statement to Emirates 24|7.
BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) today announced a bundling agreement with LG Electronics involving both standard and virtual preloading (using the LG App Manager) and confirmed that BBM will also continue to be available as a free download from Android app stores, including Google Play.
“BBM is widely used throughout the Middle East, Africa and Indonesia where smartphone users tend to engage heavily in social networking,” said Kevin Shin, Vice President of Marketing for Asia, the Middle East and CIS countries of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company.
“The LG G Pro Lite offers an optimised BBM experience with its large, high quality display and embedded Stylus Pen.”
“People across the globe are using BBM to connect with each other and the enthusiasm has been phenomenal,” said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice-President for BBM at BlackBerry. “We’re extremely pleased that LG Electronics will help bring their customers a more seamless experience with BBM by preloading the app, starting with the G Pro Lite in key markets.”