MWC 2014: BBM coming to Windows Phone soon, confirms Nokia

BBM is coming to Windows Phone soon, confirms Nokia's Stephen Elop at the company's Mobile World Conference 2014 press event.

Nokia has announced the popular cross-platform messaging app 'BlackBerry Messenger' (BBM) will soon be available on the Windows Phone mobile operating system.

Addressing the press conference at the MWC, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said Windows Phone will soon add BBM, which recently on iOS and Android. “We've added some fantastic apps to the Windows Phone ecyosytem, including Vine and Instagram, and today we're pleased to announce that BBM will be coming to the operating system,” he is quoted as saying.

Arrival of BBM on Windows Phone is definitely a good news for Microsoft as well as WP users, who have face dearth of popular apps on the platform. Back in January, BlackBerry had said it had no intentions to launch BBM for Windows Phone.

“It is not a statement of intent, and it’s not a strategic or religious thing, it’s just a function of when does it make sense and when is it something that consumers demand in sufficient numbers to make it worth our while and worth their while,” recently said David Proulx, BlackBerry’s Senior Director of BBM Business Development.

Proulx, however, stressed that the decision not to have a Windows Phone version of the BBM is “entire market driven”.

At the MWC, Elop pointed out Windows Phone had emerged as the fastest growing OS in the world. "We saw Windows Phone become the fastest growing operating system in the world - led by the Nokia Lumia 520 and Lumia 1020. In fact, the Nokia Lumia 520 is the fastest selling smartphone in the world in the €150-€200 price bracket,” he is quoted as saying.

Besides BBM on WP, Nokia has made some major announcements at the MWC. The company unveiled X-series of phones, which can run Android apps. Nokia also showed off the Asha 230 and Nokia 220 feature phones.