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BlackBerry Live 2013, the quintessential BlackBerry Messenger was announced as coming to Android this summer.  The BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins announced his company's goal to make BBM the standard in cross-platform messaging and that they'll be bringing their long-standing device-exclusive service to iOS and Android.  It's going to be totally free, which is a welcome surprise.

In the long run, they intend to include advanced features like groups, screen sharing, and the recently announced Channels to the other platforms. Keep an eye out for this one in Google Play over the next couple of months, and expect it to displace a lot of the current messaging platforms out there.

BlackBerry Messenger is a downloadable application that serves users as a communication freeware for use in their mobile BlackBerry devices.

Developed by Research in Motion Limited, BlackBerry Messenger is an instant messaging application that gives customization abilities to its users. With this app, utilizes can pick an image of their choice as their personal avatar, add contacts with the analysis of specialized bar codes or PINS, as well as exchange and share photos, videos and audio files to several people all at the same time.

Moreover, BlackBerry Messenger also enables users to create online group of their friends and families, establish a classified list of conversations by date, and find music through access to friends’ playlists.

Staying in touch with the app user’s BlackBerry contacts is just a punch of a button away specially with the application’s simplified and easy to use interface and user-friendly wording and menu organization.

BBM Voice includes a number of convenient features.

• Customers can initiate a BBM Voice call directly, or instantly switch from a BBM text chat to talk, and back again. 
• The split-screen feature allows customers to talk and text at the same time, so for example, they can send a picture to their contact while talking with them. They can also check other BBM text chats, check email, or navigate to other apps while engaged on a BBM Voice call.
• BBM provides a visual indicator that shows when contacts are available for a voice call. 
• BBM Voice is compatible with any accessories a customer has now for making voice calls on their BlackBerry smartphone, such as a Bluetooth® or wired headset. Customers can also use BBM Voice over their BlackBerry smartphone's speakerphone. 
• If it's not an ideal time to talk, customers can simply choose to respond by texting back.

Another important feature of BBM version 7 is its integration with a customer's BlackBerry ID, which is designed to back up their BBM profile, groups and contacts so they can automatically be restored in the event they switch to a new BlackBerry smartphone, including to a BlackBerry® 10 device.
BBM version 7 with the new BBM Voice feature is currently available in Beta for BlackBerry smartphones running the BlackBerry® 6 OS or higher with support planned for smartphones running the BlackBerry 5 OS at a future date. The Beta can be downloaded for free from BlackBerry Beta Zone**. Customers can sign up to BlackBerry Beta Zone for free at www.BlackBerry.com/betazone

For more information about BBM version 7 and BBM Voice, please visit www.BlackBerry.com/betazone.