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BBM for iOS: BlackBerry won’t bring Messenger to iPad…yet

The news of BlackBerry’s BBM coming to Android and iOS got most of us hot under the collar earlier this week, but there’s bad news for tablet fans hoping to use the app.

BlackBerry has confirmed that its BBM app will not be coming to the iPad when it launches on iOS and Android over the summer. The company will be focussing on phones to begin with and showed an iPhone 4S and Nexus 4 as examples during the keynote at BlackBerry Live, Florida.

The app will however be available on iPod Touch, which we’re sure will help make it a hit with the younger generation. Little ones seem to love the iPod Touch and BlackBerry combination we’ve noticed, so it’s likely that the app will prove popular. BBM will go up against the established and very popular WhatsApp, but with the iPod Touch it could have an edge – WhatsApp will only work on the iPod Touch when linked with a separate mobile number and usually after doing a workaround.

See also: Budget BlackBerry Q5 QWERTY smartphone launched in red, white, black and pink

Speaking to Trusted Reviews at BlackBerry Live, Vivek Bhardwaj, head of BlackBerry software said; “Smartphone is our real focus and again it comes back to what BBM is. If you like BBM and the engagement and the activity, it’s because it is mobile, because people are on the go.”

Whilst it seems the company’s key focus for the foreseeable future is on smartphones, Vivek didn’t rule out the possibility of an iPad or desktop version; “When you start looking at tablets, computers and other screens, the usage model changes and behaviour changes,” Bhardwaj said. “For us right now the absolute focus is getting BBM on to smartphones.”

BBM for iOS and Android launches this summer.