MUMBAI: One of the popular mobile messaging services BlackBerry Messenger will be available on Android and iOS devices from this week-end. The announcement for the same came on 18 September. The first Indian handset manufacturer to partner with Blackberry is Mircomax for their Canvas series.

The BBM application will come pre-loaded on new Micromax smartphones from the first week of October. Existing Canvas users can download the BBM for Android app from the Google Play Store, adding to the current slew of third party messaging services available on the Micromax smartphones.

Micromax CEO Deepak Mehrotra said, “We have built a strong mobile ecosystem for our users, which not only drives them to buy our products, but also builds a connection with the brand by massifying and democratizing technology in India. Bringing one of the most popular mobile messaging services with BBM on our smartphones is an effort to expand our bouquet of messaging services for our consumers to connect and communicate seamlessly with their loved ones.”

The one thing that will help BBM stand-out compared to other third party application will be its piracy setting. “BBM offers customers a highly engaging mobile messaging experience, with the assurance that your message has been delivered and read, and privacy controls that let you easily connect with people without forcing you to give out your phone number or email address.” said India BlackBerry MD Sunil Lalvani.

Meanwhile, the company had first revealed opening up the BBM application to rivals in May. Some of the earlier reports indicated that the BBM service might be exclusive to only some Android devices. In fact, the official Twitter for Samsung Mobile Nigeria said that the service would debut on 20 September and informed that it would be available on Samsung devices exclusively for only three months.

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.

A unique tool when it first launched, BBM allows users to send short messages without them having to pay SMS charges.

The application also enables BBM users to exchange pictures, audio and videos with other BBM users. However, various other cross platform mobile messaging applications like WhatsApp, Line and WeChat have become popular as they are available on different platforms. BBM will also have to compete with Apple’s own messaging platform iMessage which allows iPhoneusers to exchange free messages via data connection.