BlackBerry Messenger coming to Android, iPhone this weekend

BlackBerry said on Wednesday that its popular BlackBerry Messenger instant chat application will be available for rival devices using Google's Android and for Apple's iPhone this weekend.

The struggling Canadian smartphone maker had announced plans to open up the service, often referred to as BBM by both fans and the company, back in May.

Once a unique tool to send short messages without running up SMS charges, BBM now competes with mobile instant messaging products from Facebook, Apple and a host of other popular apps like WhatsApp, Line, WeChat and more.

Earlier reports had indicated that BlackBerry Messenger may be exclusive to some devices on Android, with Samsung Mobile Nigeria's official Twitter saying that BBM would debut on Friday, September 20th, and added that it would be exclusively available on Samsung devices for three months.

However, BlackBerry moved to deny the reports, with Victoria Berry, BBM Communications Director at BlackBerry, saying, "The excitement around the upcoming BBM launch on iPhone and Android devices seems to know no bounds. Although I'm a big fan of this passion, I want to clarify that no one will have an exclusive on offering BBM. We'll be bringing the app to Android and iPhone users across the globe soon."

The company has now confirmed that Android users will be able to download BlackBerry Messenger on Saturday, while iPhone users can get it on Sunday.

Presently, BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM, allows BlackBerry users to seamlessly exchange texts, audio, videos and pictures with each other. However, a number of cross-platform mobile messaging apps including WhatsApp, WeChat and Line have taken over as preferred choices since they are available on a variety of platforms. On the iPhone, BBM would also compete with Apple's own iMessage platform that allows users who own Apple devices to send each other free messages over a data connection.