BlackBerry rolled out the official BBM app for Android and iOS after numerous delays, and the firm has netted 10 million downloads in the first 24 hours.
BBM is available as a free download in the Google Play market, Apple App Store and select Samsung App Stores. However, due to high demand for the app BlackBerry has been limiting access.
Users who signed up at BBM.com, will get a headstart and should be able to use BBM on their Android or iOS device immediately. Those who didn't sign up will have to register and wait for an email before they can activate the app.
Despite the delay, uptake of BBM has proved incredibly popular, with the @BBM confirming the ten million user mark had been surpassed.
The software was originally expected to debut on Android and iPhone devices on 21 and 22 September, respectively. However,this was scrapped after an incomplete version of BBM for Android appeared online hours before its official launch.
This unofficial app was downloaded by more than 1.1 million people during its first eight hours of availability.
The company has also revealed that around three million people have registered to be notified exactly when the app will be available.
In a statement, BlackBerry said it was heartened by the initial response to the release, despite the issues it has caused.
As a result, it confirmed that the worldwide rollout of the software for both iPhone and Android users has now been put on hold.
"Customers who have already downloaded BBM for iPhone will be able to continue to use BBM. The unreleased Android app will be disabled, and customers who downloaded it should visit www.BBM.com to register for updates on official BBM for Android availability," the statement continued.
"As soon as we are able, we will begin a staggered country rollout of BBM for Android and continue the rollout of BBM for iPhone," it concluded.
In a follow up statement, Andrew Bocking, head of BBM at BlackBerry, shed some further light on the technical issues caused by the unofficial, older release.
"This older version resulted in volumes of data traffic orders of magnitude higher than normal for each active user and impacted the system in abnormal ways," he explained.
"The version we were planning to release on Saturday addressed these issues, however we could not block users of the unreleased version if we went ahead with the launch."
As a result, the software is unlikely to see the light of day this week, as his team works to get the unreleased version taken out of circulation.
"We are also making sure that the system is reinforced to handle this kind of scenario in the future. While this may sound like a simple task – it’s not. This will take some time and I do not anticipate launching this week," he added.
However, as reported by IT Pro, BBM could be set to make its debut on iPhone and Android devices sooner rather than later, with the firm's CMO claiming the reworked software will be released "within days".
"Whoever is interested in BlackBerry understands the company has world class products and services. These are products and services that customers can continue to count on," he said.
The article also states that, as of Tuesday 15 October, six million users had already pre-registered for both versions of BBM.
Reports had previously suggested that BlackBerry was gunning for a summer launch, for both Apple and Android, but this failed to materialise.
