It took a long time for BlackBerry to figure out that to preserve its once iconic messaging service, it had to open BBM to other platforms. The company finally did this a few months back and the initial response was great, with over 20 million users signing up across iOS and Android in the first week alone. The momentum might have slowed down since then, but BlackBerry remains committed to competing against behemoths like WhatsApp and Viber. It has scored another win, LG has agreed to pre-install BBM on its new smartphones in a variety of markets around the world.
The LG G Pro Lite will be the first smartphone from the Korean manufacturer to come with BBM straight out of the box. Andrew Bocking, EVP for BBM at BlackBerry said that the company is extremely pleased that LG is going to bring a seamless BBM experience to their customers with the G Pro Lite “in key markets.” He doesn’t go into detail about the markets where BBM will come pre-installed on LG smartphones. That said, BlackBerry reiterates its commitment to the messenger and says that it will continue to evolve for both iOS and Android in the coming months. This isn’t the first OEM deal that BlackBerry has secured, it already has a similar arrangement in place with various OEMs that exclusively service markets such as India, Indonesia, Latin America and the Middle East, where BlackBerry still holds its weight.
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