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Updated at 10 a.m. PT with a headline change noting that BlackBerry is disputing T-Mobile’s initial claim.
It looks like iOS and Android won’t be able to download BlackBerry Messenger come June 27 after all.
Earlier on Thursday, T-Mobile U.K. tweeted that BBM would indeed be available for iOS and Android come June 27, even serving up an image of a BBM conversation running on a Samsung Android phone. However, that tweet has since been taken down, calling into question the accuracy of the information.
And a BlackBerry representative told CNET: “That date is completely inaccurate; we have never indicated a specific date.”
BlackBerry also released the following statement in response to T-Mobile’s tweet:
On May 14th, BlackBerry announced plans to make its ground-breaking mobile social network, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), available to iOS and Android users this summer, subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play. While there have been reports that BBM will be available to iOS and Android on June 27th, this is not accurate. We will communicate an update as soon as we have an availability date to share.
If the information was inaccurate, why would T-Mobile U.K. tweet it in the first place? Well, T-Mobile certainly could have gotten its facts wrong. Or it’s conceivable the date may ultimately prove correct, and the carrier simply jumped the gun by revealing it without the official nod from BlackBerry.
Either way, BBM is due to reach iOS and Android sometime in the not too distant future.
Last month, BlackBerry spilled the beans that BBM would expand to iOS and Android this summer but was mum about a specific launch date. CEO Thorsten Heins revealed that the service will be available as a free download, adding that “we are confident time is right for BBM to be independent.”
The company is also working with other mobile phone makers to preload BBM onto their devices, BlackBerry Chief Operating Officer Kristian Tear told CNET on Wednesday. Tear didn’t reveal the names of any specific manufacturers but said that “there is interest from other handset makers.”
The move to iOS and Android will mark the first time that BlackBerry’s messaging service will be available on non-BlackBerry devices. But will the move sway BBM users to switch from their BlackBerry devices to iPhones and Android phones? Not according to Tear.
“We don’t feel like that is a risk,” he told CNET. “Obviously, if we did, we might have acted differently.”
Update, 11:09 a.m. PT: Adds statement released by BlackBerry.
