BlackBerry may be known for its mobile devices, but the company’s biggest success in recent years has actually been an app. After initially starting off as a BlackBerry exclusive, the company’s BBM messaging app has since expanded to iOS and Android and managed to gather more than 90 million monthly active users. Now BlackBerry is bringing the app to your wrist with the announcement of an Android Wear version of BBM.
BlackBerry continues to try to get non-BlackBerry users hooked on BBM. Today they announced that BBM for Android Wear is coming soon. While BlackBerry 10 supports installation of Android apps via the Amazon Appstore and even Google Play, Google Services applications such as Gmail and Google Now are not supported. Thus, Android Wear is currently not available on BlackBerry devices. BBM for Android Wear will provide Android smartphone users with the ability to receive alerts, read full BBM messages, accept BBM invites, and even respond to BBM messages via voice or from pre-defined messages. Herman Li, Senior Vice President, BBM Engineering and Product Management, stated: “BlackBerry is committed to listening to our customers and integrating new features and partners to improve the BBM Chat experience. The integration of BBM to support wearable technology is just one way we’re expanding the capabilities of our portfolio and delivering exciting options for customers to easily access BlackBerry’s cross-platform technologies.”