While BlackBerry had earlier said BBM for Windows Phone would arrive in Q2 2014, CEO John Chen has now confirmed BBM for Windows Phone will be launched in July.
At the BlackBerry’s quarterly earnings call and shareholders meeting on Thursday, Chen said thatBBM for Windows Phone will be arriving next month. Previously in March, Chen had reaffirmedBlackBerry’s plan for Windows Phone smartphones saying its BBM app will be released by second quarter followed by the Lumia devices and Nokia X platforms, where it will also be available as a pre-installed app on new devices.
Controversially, BlackBerry’s Senior Director of BBM Business Development, David Proulx, in Januarysaid that the continued lack of the BBM app on Windows Phone was “entirely market driven,” based on the lack of consumer demand.
The BlackBerry Messenger app for Windows Phone has been long awaited, ever since the company had launched the app on Android and iOS in October.
During the earnings report, Chen also showed off the long-rumoured square-shaped ‘Windermere’ smartphone, and officially dubbed it BlackBerry Passport. The device is scheduled to be launched in September at an event in London.
Unfortunately, the Canadian handset maker did not reveal any details about the pricing of the BlackBerry Passport, previously-codenamed Windermere.
Based on a previous BlackBerry developer listing, the Passport smartphone is said to sport a 4.5-inch display with a resolution of 1440×1440 pixels and offer a pixel density of 453ppi. Rumoured specifications include 3GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear camera, and a 3450mAh battery.
