[caption id="attachment_70879" align="aligncenter" width="490"] App Update to Blackberry's One Shining Light: BBM[/caption]

This has not been a good year for Blackberry. The release of their much anticipated Z10 & Q10 cell phones running the revamped Blackerry operating system version 10 began strong, but sales failed to lift the company back to profitability.

In the spring, their CEO made the bold prediction that within five years computer tablets would be a thing of the past and that Blackberry would once again be the dominant cell phone maker. It's too early to tell if tablets will end up in the scrap heap of discarded technology, but Blackberry's sales sank sufficiently low for the company to get bought out by a group of private investors.

However, there is one thing that is going well for the company and that is the Blackberry Messaging service (BBM). It has become quite popular on both Apple iPhones and Android-based phones which ironically are the very phones which led to Blackberry's fall from market dominance.

The newly released update to BBM is available for both iPhones and Android-based phones. It's curious to note that Blackberry cell phone users will have to wait for the latest update. The new features improve the ease for adding new BBM contacts by e-mail in addition to doing so with a PIN. It also has better hooks into Facebook and Twitter. It is refreshing to see Blackberry get something right for a change.

On the Web:

BBM update brings iPod Touch and iPad support, plus new features for Android and iOS
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2427185,00.asp