BBM for Android/Ios postponed

CEBU, Philippines - The company formerly known as Research in Motion, now simply known as BlackBerry, halted the rollout of its anticipated BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for the Android and iOS platforms over the weekend.

A leaked version of the Android variant of the app is attributed to be the cause for the messaging suite’s postponed rollout, as indicated by the company’s official blog.

“Prior to launching BBM for Android, an unreleased version of the BBM for Android app was posted online. The interest and enthusiasm we have seen already – more than 1.1 million active users in the first 8 hours without even launching the official Android app – is incredible. Consequently, this unreleased version caused issues, which we have attempted to address throughout the day,” the announcement reads.

The news of “BBM for all” made waves when the company announced the upcoming release of BBM for Android and iOS on May this year. The announcement was generally met with positive sentiments, given the gold instant messaging standard the suite had established since it first rolled out.

With regards an ETA for the availability of BBM for Android and iOS, the company’s blog notes that its team will “continue to work around the clock to bring BBM to Android and iPhone, but only when it’s ready and we know it will live up to your expectations of BBM.”

The “minimalist” design directive takes center stage

A number of the world’s key IT industry players recently revamped their respective looks, opting for a more “minimalist” design directive that is clean-cut in its overall scope.

From Microsoft boasting a cleaner, more “tiled” interface in Windows 8 and in Bing, to Yahoo! implementing a more sans serif logo that’s backed by site/service portal redesigns, Apple and Google have also joined the fray in giving a number of their electronic consumer offerings a face lift.

In Apple’s case, the “flatter” icons of the new iOS 7 stands to be the more obvious change, apart from the latest iOS version highlighting a new “Control Center”, system enhancements, and fixes.

For Google, a new logo was recently introduced by the internet giant, initially spotted in a Beta version for Chrome for Android browser sometime last week, and announced to be followed by site/service redesigns to come in the days ahead.

Given the recent string of redesigns, the terms “flat” and “flatter”, along with the words sans serif, streamlined and cleaner, have been more and more used by netizens and online media outfits, readily pointing to how minimalist design directives are gaining traction as a growing design standard in the information technology arena.

— (FREEMAN)