It has been rumoured for months and highly anticipated by users, however just as BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) was due to launch on the iPhone and Android platforms it has been pulled by creator BlackBerry. The last minute postponement was prompted by an unofficial version of the program being released onto the the Google Play store over the weekend.
BlackBerry have stated that this will hold up the official release for at least a week, Andrew Bocking, head of BBM at BlackBerry, said in a blogpost. He explained that the release of an "older, unreleased version" of BBM for Android which was posted on file-sharing sites and then onto Google Play interfered with the company's plans for launch of its official, finished app.
The early version "resulted in volumes of data traffic orders of magnitude higher than normal for each active user and impacted the system in abnormal ways", Bocking wrote. But if the company had gone ahead and released the official version, "we could not block users of the unreleased version".
The rogue version has now had more than a million downloads. A quick search of the Google Play store reveals a number of fake versions of the app, which should be ignored as they are likely to be unstable and insecure.
Fake apps are often deleted within hours of being published on the Play Store. However, they can often make money by offering adverts. Some of the apps garner five-star ratings by forcing users to give them one before the app will start working - thus pushing them up the rankings.
This is yet another setback for the beleaguered company, which is struggling to create new sources of income following the decline in its handset business - leading to a write off of $1bn - the launch of BBM on other platforms is seen as a key repositioning by the company. Many commentators view BlackBerrys future as a software and services company, as they struggle to compete in the mobile market.
BlackBerry’s BBM was the first messaging program to gain wide traction with users, a space that has been moved into recently by the likes of Whatsapp and iMessage. BBM is one of BlackBerry's most popular products, and remains for many the main attraction of its phones, which it was exclusive to. This new cross-platform approach has led many to wonder if this could pose a further risk to their declining handset sales.
The BlackBerry team is now trying to adjust the system to block the fake app so that the launch goes smoothly when the official one goes live, said Bocking.
Google’s Spokesman said: "we remove infringing apps as soon as we become aware of them." Google's Developer Program Policies tells developers not to use "impersonation or deceptive behaviour" - although looking at the Play Store it would suggest this is repeatedly flouted.
No comments:
Post a Comment