BlackBerry Says BBM for iPhone, Android Not Coming This Week

BlackBerry has announced an update on its BBM for iPhone launch to say it needs to block an earlier leaked Android version of the app first before both apps can officially debut, as the rogue app is causing server issues due to its immense traffic:

Last week, an unreleased, older version of the BBM for Android app was posted on numerous file sharing sites. We were aware of an issue with this unreleased version of the BBM for Android app. This older version resulted in volumes of data traffic orders of magnitude higher than normal for each active user and impacted the system in abnormal ways. The version we were planning to release on Saturday addressed these issues, however we could not block users of the unreleased version if we went ahead with the launch.

We attempted to address the problems caused by the unreleased version throughout the day on Saturday, but as active users of the unreleased app neared a million – and accelerated – it became clear that the only way to address the issue was to pause the rollout for both Android and iPhone.

The team is now focused on adjusting the system to completely block this unreleased version of the Android app when we go live with the official BBM for Android app. We are also making sure that the system is reinforced to handle this kind of scenario in the future. While this may sound like a simple task – it’s not. This will take some time and I do not anticipate launching this week.

On Saturday BlackBerry paused its BBM for iOS and Android rollout after a leak of the latter wreaked havoc on the company’s servers, which it addressed in the update above. The company previously promised a Summer release for BBM on iOS and Android, but that appears to no longer be possible as we’re already into Fall (in the Northern Hemisphere).

This morning BlackBerry announced it had agreed to a $4.7 billion takeover deal by Fairfax, and could complete once the latter finishes its due diligence. The company is expected to announce the net operating loss of $995 million for its second quarter due to a massive writedown on dismal BB10 hardware sales, plus axe 4,500 jobs as part of cost cutting measures.

So, BBM for iPhone users–you’re going to have to keep waiting once again.

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