BlackBerry announces that iOS, Android versions of BBM to hit this weekend

For once, Android will feel the goodness of a release before iOS. It will, however, only get the app a day before iOS: On Wednesday, BlackBerry announced that its Messenger app will roll out to Android on Sept, 21, and to iOS on Sept, 22.

The features of BBM for Android and iPhone include:

• BBM Chat – Real, immediate conversations with your contacts on Android, iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones. While other proprietary chat apps such as WhatsApps have reached stupendous user bases, the famed BB security is a selling point.
• BBM allows the sharing of files between users, including photos and voice notes.
• Multi-person chats are also possible, with BBM Groups allowing a user to invite up to 30 friends to a single chat. File sharing can take place among such a group chat.
• Broadcast Message can send a message out to all your BBM contacts at once.
• BBM also allows users to post a personal message, profile picture and current status, and lets contacts know instantly in Updates.
• Every BBM user has a unique PIN to maintains their privacy, so they don't have to give out a phone number or email address to a new or casual contact.

The Android BBM app will launch at 7 a.m. EDT on Saturday, while its iOS counterpart will launch time zone by time zone, becoming available beginning at 12:01 a.m. local time on Sunday.