BlackBerry is making its OTT messaging service, BBM, available on iOS and Android this summer.

As it stands, BBM has 51m daily active users, who use the service once every 90 minutes on average, and adding two extra platforms has to potential to cause an explosion in usage. However, following WhatsApp’s huge success on Android and iOS, it may well have come to the party too late.

The BBM app should be free to download, and it’s unclear at this point how BlackBerry intends to monetise the service – possibly through a normal subscription, or advertising – or whether the move isn’t intended to spice up revenues in any respect. BBM could potentially act as a virtual brand ambassador for the OS, but there’s also the chance that it is able to lose its central USP, especially some of the youth market.