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BlackBerry BBM racks up 10M downloads in first 24 hours

BlackBerry continues to get positive ratings for its messaging app.

Roger_Cheng.jpg
Roger_Cheng.jpg
Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
Expertise Mobile, 5G, Big Tech, Social Media Credentials
  • SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
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Roger Cheng
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BlackBerry's BBM messenger service keeps chugging along.

The company said that BBM has racked up more than 10 million downloads in its first 24 hours.

"I've seen reports of apps that launched with 1 million downloads in a day, but over 10 million? Amazing," BlackBerry executive Andrew Bocking said on the company's blog.

BBM actually garnered 5 million downloads in its first 8 hours. The app has since zoomed to the top on Apple's App Store, garnering mostly positive ratings.

BBM hasn't yet shown up on Google Play, but that could be because Google doesn't update the list as frequently. Bocking noted there have been 60,000 five-star reviews out of 87,000 total reviews.

There was significant demand for the iOS and Android version of BBM, with 6 million registering ahead of time to get information on the app. There was so much interest that BlackBerry had to institute a wait list for people who hadn't registered ahead of time.