BlackBerry will still offer an enterprise version called BBMe for general customers through Google and Apple’s app stores. The service will be free for a year, and will then cost about $3.33 for a six-month subscription. (MobileSyrup)

Talking point: The loss of BBM will be a major headache for users, but—following the company’s shift away from phones and toward security services—doesn’t appear to be bothering the stock market, as the company’s stock was up 0.41 per cent in late-afternoon trading. BBMe has a fraction of the users its consumer version once did, but many security-conscious government workers still use the service. In 2018, the federal government announced BBMe licensing for all its smartphone users. People with the newer BBOS or BlackBerry 10 devices will not be affected by the change. BBM was a pioneer in the instant messaging space when it launched back in 2005. As of 2015, it had 190 million global users; WhatsApp currently has over 1.5 billion globally.