Report: Instagram has no plans for native BlackBerry 10 app

February 22, 2013 | By Jason Ankeny

Instagram has decided against building a native version of its popular photo sharing application for the new BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) 10 operating system, All Things D reports.

Sources close to Instagram said the firm has no immediate plans to expand its reach beyond Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS and Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android: "There will be no [native] Instagram for BB10 for now," said one insider. "Frankly, I'm not sure there will ever be."

Last month, The Verge reported Instagram will port its Android app to BlackBerry 10 devices. The BlackBerry 10 SDK includes the BlackBerry Runtime for Android, enabling developers to port and repackage applications originally written the Google OS; insiders indicate that roughly 40 percent of all 70,000 third-party BB10 apps are adapted from Android releases. Critics contend that Android apps already available for BlackBerry 10 deliver a less-than-optimal performance, although BlackBerry has vowed to update the runtime to support Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which should improve the user experience.

BlackBerry (formerly Research In Motion) unveiled BlackBerry 10 in late January. Instagram parent firm Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has officially pledged to support the new platform; other high-profile partners include LinkedIn, Skype, Twitter, foursquare, WhatsApp, MLB At Bat, ESPN Scorecenter, CBS Sports, Evernote, The Weather Channel, Slacker, DropBox, Rovio Entertainment, Electronic Arts and Gameloft.

The absence of Instagram nevertheless could diminish BlackBerry 10's consumer appeal: At last count, there are more than 90 million monthly active Instagram users worldwide sharing 40 million photos per day. In addition, users are adding 8,500 "likes" and 1,000 comments per second. Moreover, Instagram's reluctance to embrace BlackBerry 10 could dissuade other developers from supporting the platform.

Asked to comment on Instagram's holdout, BlackBerry Vice President of Global Alliances said only "We have a strong partnership and are actively engaged around Instagram support for BB10, but we do not have an availability date at this point."

Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.

For more:
- read this All Things D article