After BlackBerry's official shut down, BBMe now available for individuals

Blackberry Messenger, popularly known as BBM, has officially shut down. Launched in 2005, BBM was one of the most popular instant messaging services before the rise of WhatsApp. Emtek, the company managing the platform announced its demise on May 31.

BBM was initially available only on BlackBerry smartphones. Later, to regain its customer base, the service was offered on iOS and Android devices as well. But, with the growing popularity of WhatsApp and other similar messaging apps, BBM struggled to lure customers back. 

In a blog post, Emtek announced that the consumer version of BBM had been shut on May 31. “We poured our hearts into making this a reality, and we are proud of what we have built to date. The technology industry, however, is very fluid, and in spite of our substantial efforts, users have moved on to other platforms, while new users proved difficult to sign on”, the blog post stated.

However, BBM enterprise (BBMe) would still be an alternative for the ones who still use the messaging service. BBMe offers the same level of functionality and encryption as BBM. Previously available only for organisations, BBMe would now be available for individual users as well.

Unlike BBM, the enterprise version would not be free. For the first year, users can get access to BBMe services for free, after which they would be charged a subscription fee of Rs 199 for six months. The company had informed its users that post shut down, all their data would get deleted from the systems.