BBM, BlackBerry Messenger, Android

After amassing 40 million registered users on BBM back in December, and then later reaching 85 million users in February, BlackBerry’s Messenger has just reached another milestone: 50 million downloads on Google Play.

BlackBerry expanded BBM to Android Gingerbread users back in February and is set to arrive for Windows Phone in the second quarter of this year, which should give it a significant boost, though the app still trails its many rivals in the messaging space.

BBM user count still trails its many rivals in the messaging space

WhatsApp has over 500 million active users and WeChat has over 300 million active users, while Viber has 200 million registered users, followed by Kik with over 100 million registered users. While BBM had 85 million active users at the beginning of this month, it’s not known how much this number has increased, if at all, since then.

It’s also unclear how BBM intends to monetize its apps, though it has recently launched the BBM shop and stickers as a way toward its monetization efforts.

BBM can be downloaded free on your favorite mobile platforms.

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By Josh Robert Nay

Josh Robert Nay is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TruTower. He has worked in the telecommunications industry since 2003 and specializes in GSM based technology. He also uses (too many) VoIP apps and is a long-time user of BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Phone. He adores anything having to do with space exploration and writing. In addition to the links below, he can be found on LinkedIn and can also be found on his website at http://www.joshrobertnay.com.