BlackBerry is feeling very pleased with the (second) launch of BBM on Android and iOS, pointing out that their user based for the messaging service has swelled by 20 million new active users following the rollout on other mobile platforms.
The company says that the first week of BBM availability ended with the service featuring more than 80 million active users – defined as users who have sent or received data through BBM in the past month. Over 20 million of those are using BBM on Android or iOS.
BlackBerry’s executive VP of BBM Andrew Bocking said in a statement “It is great to see so many people downloading BBM, but the true measurement for us is engagement – the connections being made and the conversations in which our BBM community engages. The power of BBM has always been the active, real conversations and interaction that our customers enjoy. From here on out, we will focus on active users of BBM and will no longer focus on simple download numbers.”
For now BlackBerry’s BBM numbers look strong but it is still early days yet. Whether the Canadian company can hold onto these numbers and increase them remains to be seen but for now all appears positive.