BlackBerry said it was “extremely disappointed” that Facebook and WhatsApp have ended support for its BlackBerry 10 platform, as it made a “strong commitment” to its developers and users.
Facebook recently decided to discontinue support for its existing BlackBerry 10 app, meaning it will no longer sync with the BlackBerry Hub messaging centre – CrackBerry said that users are now offered an app which is “nothing more than a web browser link”.
This came after WhatsApp said it would pull support for BlackBerry 10 and BBOS at the end of the year, because the platforms “don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future”.
BlackBerry said it was unsuccessful in attempts to “change their minds” and encouraged users to “let them know how you feel” using the hashtag ‘ILoveBB10Apps’.
“We have worked hard to ensure our users have the best experience in light of this decision, and are continuing to search for alternate solutions,” wrote Lou Gazzola, lead app ecosystem and developer outreach team, in a blog post.
He added that its “commitment to BlackBerry 10 and to developers has not changed – we know our developer community continues to be one of the strongest proponents of BlackBerry 10 and they are creating thousands of apps every month.”
As a way to promote new apps, the company will feature some of the best native apps on BlackBerry World in a list called “great apps on BlackBerry.” It will also invest in apps important to its users, citing an improved Twitter client as an example.
The commitment to developers is similar to that made by BlackBerry in October, but developers responded that the company provided little in the way of firm evidence of this beyond version 10.3.3, which was scheduled for availability early in 2016.
With the company having released its first Android-powered device, Priv, and with its smartphone volumes dwindling, unsurprisingly there have been question marks over whether the company will continue to support BlackBerry 10.
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