BlackBerry announced the public release of its anticipated BBM for Windows Phone app, although the company is still tagging it as a “beta” at this stage.

The company has already said that the initial aim is to bring core BBM features such as BBM Chats and BBM Groups to Windows Phone, and that it will be working to bring other new features, such as stickers, BBM Voice, BBM Channels and location sharing powered by Glympse in the coming months.

“We’ve really tried to pick up on the clean, modern, really responsive design and user experience that you find across the whole Windows Phone platform. That’s why BBM for Windows Phone is so different to BBM on the other platforms,” Jeff Gadway, head of product and brand marketing for BBM said.

While BlackBerry’s focus is currently on building its cross-platform BBM user base, features such as BBM Channels have also been highlighted as providing it with future monetisation options.

BlackBerry said that when BBM for Windows Phone was made available through a private beta test, all 10,000 testing slots were taken within 24 hours.

The company has been broadening availability of BBM for some time, initially to iOS and Android, subsequently adding support for older Android devices in order to address customers using old versions of the platform – for example low cost devices in emerging markets.