BlackBerry’s recent Great Apps blog post regarding Facebook and WhatsApp abandoning the BB OS resulted in a lot of uproar. However, in its latest blog post, the Canadian firm has clarified that Facebook plans to continue its support for BB10 and the BB OS. Though the experience will differ slightly, users will get access to all their favorite features.
Facebook and BlackBerry still friends
“Our fans are fighting for us (#WeAreBlackBerry), and we love their support (#ILoveBB10Apps). That’s why we have worked hard with Facebook to address some technical challenges and the best solution was to move forward with a Web-based app,” read the blog post.
BlackBerry said it has updated the web-based Facebook app, which is a replacement for the native app for BB10 and BB OS. The Canadian firm has requested that users update their handsets as beginning March 31, the native app will stop working. BlackBerry’s flagship Android device, the Priv, has the full Android Facebook app available on it.
Facebook’s new web-based app offers users certain additional features which are not available on the native app. These are: the ability to reply to comments and see replies to comments; all posts will be loaded; and the user will not see “News feed could not be retrieved” or “Post could not be loaded” messages anymore (unless the post was actually removed).
All the features available to Facebook website users will be available to users in the updated application as well. To transition to the web-based experience starting March 31, users are first required to visit BlackBerry World on their devices and then apply the available update to the Facebook application.
All eyes on Priv sales
BlackBerry is prepared to report its quarterly earnings on Friday. Investors and analysts will have their focus on acceleration in software revenue growth, but the handset business will also be watched closely. In the handset segment, sales of the Priv, which is the first Android-powered device from the Canadian firm, are expected to draw the most attention. BlackBerry launched the slider-keyboard smartphone in early November.
On Tuesday, BlackBerry shares closed up 3.42% at $7.87. Year to date, the stock is down by almost 16%, while in the last year, it is down by almost 17%.
