BlackBerry Rolls Out its BBM Social Network - Wall Street Journal ~ Electronic Gadgets

Nov. 26, 2013 11:28 a.m. ET

TORONTO— BlackBerry Ltd. BB.T -0.59% BlackBerry Ltd. Canada: Toronto ^$6.69 -0.04 -0.59% Nov. 28, 2013 4:00 pm Volume : 378,198 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $3.54 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $799,278 11/26/13 BlackBerry Rolls Out its BBM S... 11/26/13 BlackBerry's Exiting Executive... 11/26/13 Canada Stocks to Watch: BlackB... More quote details and news » BB.T in Your Value Your Change Short position on Tuesday pushed ahead with what has become one of the few areas of growth for the troubled smartphone maker—the development of its BlackBerry messaging application.

BlackBerry said it was rolling out its social network, BBM Channels, on Tuesday and teaming up with emerging-market smartphone manufacturers to have BBM preinstalled on their devices. The social network will be built into its BBM messaging service.

The moves come as BlackBerry's interim chief executive, John Chen, spearheads a reorganization at the Waterloo, Ontario, company that includes the recently announced departure of three key executives and a longtime board member. Mr. Chen, who took the helm this month after BlackBerry scrapped a plan to sell itself, has provided few new details about how his vision for the company will differ from his predecessor's.

After sales of its new line of smartphones fell flat, BlackBerry in September said it would focus on selling its smartphones and services to businesses, a move some people saw as a last-ditch effort to hang on to rapidly eroding ground in the market it pioneered.

BBM Channels, a Twitter TWTR +1.79% Twitter Inc. U.S.: NYSE ^$40.90 +0.72 +1.79% Nov. 27, 2013 4:01 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4.95M AFTER HOURS ^$41.00 +0.10 +0.24% Nov. 27, 2013 6:55 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 585,223 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $22.71 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $267,231 11/25/13 How To Spot, Defend Against Fa... 11/22/13 Buying Stocks at Record Highs:... 11/22/13 'Sharknado' and the Tricky Bus... More quote details and news » TWTR in Your Value Your Change Short position -like service that at first will be available only for BlackBerry users, is intended as a forum for companies and celebrities to engage with their customers and fans. BlackBerry executives have signaled that Channels will be the key to generating revenue from BBM, which is free and doesn't have ads. BBM Channels for iPhone and Android devices will be introduced in the coming months, the company said.

BlackBerry also said that BBM soon will come preloaded on a number of phones from handset manufacturers in the developing world. Companies such as India's Micromax Informatics Ltd. and Hong Kong's TECNO Group will have BBM already installed when a customer purchases a phone. Preinstallation of apps is fairly common with phone makers, including BlackBerry. When you buy a new BlackBerry phone, for example, the applications for Facebook FB +1.31% Facebook Inc. Cl A U.S.: Nasdaq ^$46.49 +0.60 +1.31% Nov. 27, 2013 7:59 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 44.66M AFTER HOURS ^$46.54 +0.05 +0.11% Nov. 27, 2013 7:43 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 317,697 P/E Ratio 108.12 Market Cap $114.12 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $1,487,770 11/29/13 Facebook: College Football Riv... 11/27/13 Sex Offenders May Be Banned fr... 11/27/13 Facebook, You Do Have A Teen P... More quote details and news » FB in Your Value Your Change Short position and LinkedIn are already there.

BlackBerry opened up the proprietary BBM to iPhone and Android users in October, after considering the idea internally for several years. Company executives were once concerned that opening up BBM to other phone users would diminish incentives to buy BlackBerrys, but since the company's new line of phones has failed to catch on with consumers, the company has put more effort into promoting BBM.

BBM currently said it has well over 80 million monthly active users.

Write to Will Connors at william.connors@wsj.com

via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNG_QqXs5Q6QoXKTXSLWUBpI_evNGA&url=http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304465604579221950551457222