BBM For IPhone Waiting App Store Approval

The Android sphere recently was packed with leaks and news pointing to an imminent release of the long-awaited BlackBerry Messenger app, but it appears that the iOS version has noiselessly been progressing also.  BlackBerry has confirmed that the iPhone BBM app has been submitted for consideration and is now awaiting approval.

BBM has had rather a long, and quite turbulent journey. But there has been revival of late regarding the app nearing a release on both Android and iOS. In May, BlackBerry announced that the app should be released this summer, which, even now, leaves them a couple of weeks to make a release. However, when they do, the question on everybody’s mind is whether it will indeed make a difference.
The company is banking on BBM’s historical popularity, citing figures that show the service’s still large number of active users, well, in North America at least.  Of course, there has been gossip of BlackBerry splitting itself and spinning off into different markets, including a standalone BBM service. However, by the time it makes an appearance on the scene, it will be facing not only well established giants like Apple’s iMessage.  It will also be facing stiff competition with services like WhatsApp and Viber, whose popularity has been growing at a speedy velocity.
BlackBerry seems fairly quiet and unobtrusive regarding the issue and will still be pushing through with its BBM plans. It already has a landing page set up and a representative has now posted on Twitter that the BBM for iPhone was submitted for review 2 weeks ago.  That should give them enough time to make the aforementioned summer release.
Interestingly, the post explicitly mentions iPhone only, which means the company has not changed its position on not doing a simultaneous release for the iPad, so it is not a full iOS release. With this focus from Blackberry pushed towards BBM, is it a case of too little too late?