Earlier this month, the BlackBerry Messenger app progressed from a limited test release to a more open beta on Windows Phone 8. BlackBerry has now announced that BBM has emerged from the beta phase of its development entirely.
The company has released a new version of the app via the Windows Phone Store, which drops the beta tag for the first time. The app is still waiting for some of the new features that BlackBerry promised when it released the first beta back in July.
The latest BBM release doesn’t bring any major new features, but as The Next Web reports, it does include various bug fixes and unspecified performance improvements. You should also find that the app loads a bit faster.
The new version of BBM on Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 arrives as news emerges that the more secure version of the service will soon be available on rival platforms. Speaking with The Hindustan Times, BlackBerry’s Sunil Lalwani said that work is already under way to bring BBM Protected to iOS and Android later this year.
BlackBerry will be targeting business users with iOS and Android devices, and will ask them to pay an annual fee of $30 per device to access the more secure BBM Protected service. BBM Protected operates much like the standard service does, but with additional security through unique encryption keys shared solely between the sender and the recipient.
The company has been working hard to increase availability of its services on rival platforms, given the massive decline in interest for its devices. However, it seems there are no immediate plans to bring BBM Protected to Windows Phone. BlackBerry is predicted to end this year with just 0.8% share of the global smartphone market.
Source: The Next Web / BGR | original screenshots via BlackBerry
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