BlackBerry Adds 40 Million BBM Users via iOS and Android App

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The struggling Canadian BlackBerry made public today that it took another hit: a $4.4 billion loss during the third quarter, with revenue dropping 24%, to $1.2 billion, compared to the prior quarter (via The Next Web).

But the company also took the opportunity to make two important announcements, which could help the company turn its business around: BlackBerry has inked a five-year partnership with Foxconn, and the launch of BBM for iOS and Android was a success.

By partnering up with Foxconn, Apple’s supplier, BlackBerry aims to develop new devices that targets emerging countries.

“We look forward to a successful strategic partnership in which Foxconn will jointly develop and manufacture new BlackBerry devices in both Indonesia and Mexico for new and existing markets,” Terry Gou, Founder and Chairman of Foxconn said.

An interesting highlight of BlackBerry’s Q3 2013 report is messaging. As it turns out, BBM, the messaging service, was a big hit: over 40 million newly registered iOS and Android users in the past 60 days.

This is quite impressive. The announcement comes hot on the heels of yesterday’s teaser of future BBM features, scheduled for 2014. But BlackBerry was cautious enough to give a vague deadline: It has some serious issues it needs to overcome first. But making BBM a multi-platform messaging service appears to be a good move.

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