WhatsApp has became the defacto leader for free, cross-platform online mobile messaging nowadays. And to challenge that, the other popular online messaging service BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is going cross-platform by releasing native apps for both Apple iOS and Google Android. BBM has been the top reason for many users to buy BlackBerry phones, BBM has also been the standard for mobile instant messaging with it's fast and robust service and it's launch on rival platforms is surely going to give WhatsApp run for it's money.

In it's first incarnation on multiple platforms, iOS and Android users will be able to do BBM chats (both single and multi-person), voice note sharing and BlackBerry Groups, where BBM users are able to set up groups of up to 30 people and share calendar, photos, files and more.