BlackBerry will release messenger app for Windows Phone next week

BlackBerry will release a Windows Phone app from its messaging service BlackBerry Messenger next week. The Canadian company announced this on Friday. Versions for Android and iOS have already been released before.

BlackBerry says it has tested the application in recent weeks and that it is now good enough to be rolled out to the general public. Initially, BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM, for Windows Phone will contain three elements: a tab with contacts, one with chats and one with feeds.

Matthew Talbot of BlackBerry writes in his blog post that more features will be released for the application in the coming months. These include the BBM Voice and Channels calling service, which users can use to create chat channels. It will then also be possible to share locations via BBM.

The BBM app has been available for Android and iOS since last year. With Windows Phone, the Canadian manufacturer serves almost all major platforms. Now that the chat software is available cross-platform, BlackBerry Messenger has to compete against numerous competitors, such as WhatsApp, Google Hangouts and Facebook Messenger.

BlackBerry hopes to generate more revenue in the longer term with BBM. This is necessary, because things have not been going well with the smartphone manufacturer for a long time. However, director John Chen claims that his company is out of the danger zone and that the biggest financial problems are over.