The latest version of BBM for all platforms is out and it brings with it the first attempt at monetising the free chat application, stickers. Along with the new stickers are two more major updates, firstly the ability to share pictures in multi-person chats and also an increase in the size of file that can be shared via BBM from 6MB to 16MB.
Stickers are not a new concept for the instant messaging initiated. Platforms like Facebook Messenger and WeChat have offered a selection of free and paid for stickers to their users for some time now. There are four sticker packs available in the store from day one, a free one from the BBM team, which mimics the familiar faces of the BBM emoticons on a larger scale, and three sets of stickers from an array of international designers which will set South African users back R15.99 for each set.
All of the latest versions of BlackBerry’s chat applications, either BBM 10.3.1 for BlackBerry 10, BBM 8.2 for BlackBerry OS or BBM 2.1 for Android and iOS, have been updated with the new feature which essentially just catches it up to the rest of the pack.
Once the darling of the instant messaging world, BBM has seen its position as the leader of the pack eroded and overtaken by a collection of other big names to come out of the woodwork. The most notable of them of course being WhatsApp whose 450 million users, 320 million of whom are active at least once a month, dwarfs the paltry 115 million and 85 million active users that BBM has.
The latest versions of BBM are available for both BlackBerry 10 and older BlackBerry OS devices as well as for Android phones in the Google Play Store and iPhones in the iTunes App Store.
