BlackBerry is now planning to port BBM to Google’s wearables-focused Android operating system, Android Wear. Jeff Gadway, an executive at Blackberry, told the press that BBM will launch on Android Wear in “early 2015.”
An obvious move from BlackBerry
With almost every chat service making itself available on Android Wear, it’s an obvious and much-needed move from BlackBerry. Users will be able to view and accept invites through the wearable and use the gadget’s speech to text option.
The Canadian smartphone maker started offering the BBM app on the iOS and Android mobile platforms in October 2013. In the beginning, some technical glitches did come, but the company managed to win around 90 million monthly active users as of last September. The total number of registered users is around 140 million. To monetize its cross-platform service, the Canadian firm added stickers and a sticker store last year and increased BBM features to include an encrypted messaging offering aimed at enterprises.
At CES, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said bringing BBM onto Android Wear is a strategy to enhance the attractiveness of the platform with the primary focus on increasing ad yields.
Chen confident on BlackBerry turnaround
Separately, in an interview with David Pogue of Yahoo, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said their network’s security model and encryption would have defended against the attack on iCloud that caused the theft of personal photos from celebrities. Chen claimed the error-proof security architecture of BlackBerry phones and the BlackBerry data network does not require users to be concerned about privacy and security. Chen did mention that President Obama uses a BlackBerry.
Chen also talked about their QNX software, which is fitted into 50 million cars, saying that initially the QNX automotive software was integrated into the infotainment system, but eventually it is moving toward the mechanics of cars, such as collision avoidance and braking systems.
On the BlackBerry Passport and Classic, Chen said the devices will help in maintaining their current crop of customers along with earning new ones. “It’s about a productive phone. … I want to make sure it’s very secure and very private, [and has a] long battery,” Chen told
Further, the BlackBerry CEO said his turnaround plan is working, and in one year, the company has transformed from losing more than $1 billion a quarter to earning $46 million.