Sponsored invites and ads were always slated to be arriving on BBM and BBM Channels, it was just a matter of when exactly they'd start rolling out that remained unanswered. As it turns out, they're likely coming in the next release according to the latest BBM for Android beta, which also includes the real features we've been waiting for.

About the Ads experience

  • Ads should appear on your device in two different areas: As sponsored invites in the invites section of BBM / As sponsored channel posts in the Updates section of BBM.

As we mentioned when we found out about it, it's a fairly decent way to monetize the service without being too disruptive to the user experience and it seems many folks didn't mind the idea. Whether or not it will be taken so well when it rolls out to the masses remains to be seen but if BlackBerry sticks to their original plan, the ads and invites will be limited with a user never receiving more than 3 sponsored invites in a single month. Hopefully that will be the case or some might get turned off by it.

Next up, let's figure out how to make BBM Money a good service for everyone, everywhere not just in Indonesia.

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