BBM for iOS and Android - finally here. Almost.

This is turning into quite the eventful Monday, at least from a geek's perspective. First, Facebook takes a bit of a siesta (don't worry, Facebookphiles, all is now well), and now BlackBerry announces its BBM for iOS and Android will be going live today. BB's Andrew Bocking has posted the lowdown on the BlackBerry blog:

BBM for Android and BBM for iPhone: Official Launch Details

I wrote about the company's aborted launch attempt last month - Could BBM save BlackBerry - and the industry's been watching fairly closely since then for signs that the ubiquitous software - 60 million regular users, and they send 10 billion messages a day - would finally be available on something other than BlackBerry-branded hardware.

The promise of true cross-platform instant messaging (and then some, as BBM also supports audio, video and collaboration) is something that hasn't quite taken hold yet. Today we find out if BlackBerry's shot positions it to be the first major vendor to stake its claim. Coolness.